Plasma Treatment Destroys Cold Viruses – INP Researchers in Greifswald

Greifswald. The Leibniz Institute for Plasma Research and Technology (INP) in Greifswald has declared war on adenoviruses. In a recent laboratory study, the pathogens were exposed to so-called medical gas plasma.

With a surprising result: As the institute announced, the viruses that cause colds and conjunctivitis were rendered harmless within a short period of time.

“The plasma does not work indiscriminately. It specifically changes certain components of the virus envelope, i.e. exactly where the virus normally attaches to human cells,” explains INP study leader Prof. Dr. Sander Bekeschus. In the experiments, the researchers used a special argon plasma jet. A device that is also used in plasma medicine.

More detailed analyzes have shown that certain protein building blocks in the virus shell, which are responsible for stability, among other things, are attacked. However, not through heat or mechanical influences, but through chemical reactions with the oxygen and nitrogen compounds in the plasma.

Risk of infection reduced by 96 percent

According to the study’s first author, Dr. Anke Schmidt, the pathogens can then no longer penetrate other cells. “Without this ability, the virus can no longer cause infection,” she says.

After just 90 seconds of plasma treatment, the infectivity in cell cultures was reduced by around 96 percent, according to the INP scientists. The virus particles also changed their shape and shrank by around 16 percent on average. The viruses’ genetic material, however, remained largely undamaged.

Plasma could be used for disinfection

With the knowledge gained, plasma technology can now be further developed. One area of application, for example, is the disinfection of surfaces or medical devices, as the adenoviruses on them could survive for a long time under normal circumstances.

At the same time, however, the scientists also emphasize that the results come from laboratory tests. Before concrete applications are possible, further studies, for example of infected lungs, would have to follow in order to confirm the effectiveness in organisms.

OZ