Eur. Phys. J. D (2014) 68: 46
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2014-40753-y

Regular Article

Plasmid DNA damage induced by helium atmospheric pressure plasma jet^*

Radiation Laboratory and Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA

^a Present address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, California State University at Long Beach, CA 90840, USA.
^b e-mail: sptasins@nd.edu

Received: 1 December 2013
Received in final form: 19 January 2014
Published online: 11 March 2014

Abstract

A helium atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) is applied to induce damage to aqueous plasmid DNA. The resulting fractions of the DNA conformers, which indicate intact molecules or DNA with single- or double-strand breaks, are determined using agarose gel electrophoresis. The DNA strand breaks increase with a decrease in the distance between the APPJ and DNA samples under two working conditions of the plasma source with different parameters of applied electric pulses. The damage level induced in the plasmid DNA is also enhanced with increased plasma irradiation time. The reactive species generated in the APPJ are characterized by optical emission spectra, and their roles in possible DNA damage processes occurring in an aqueous environment are also discussed.