Chemical Changes in Nonthermal Plasma-Treated N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) Solution and TheirContribution to Bacterial Inactivation

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 6; no. 1
• Main Authors: Ercan, Utku K., Smith, Josh, Ji, Hai-Feng, Brooks, Ari D., Joshi, Suresh G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 02-02-2016
• Subjects: 631/326; 631/326/22; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Science
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep20365

In continuation of our previous reports on the broad-spectrum antimicrobial activityof atmospheric non-thermal dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma treatedN-Acetylcysteine (NAC) solution against planktonic and biofilm forms of differentmultidrug resistant microorganisms, we present here the chemical changes thatmediate inactivation of
Escherichia coli
. In this study, the mechanism andproducts of the chemical reactions in plasma-treated NAC solution are shown.UV-visible spectrometry, FT-IR, NMR and colorimetric assays were utilized forchemical characterization of plasma treated NAC solution. The characterizationresults were correlated with the antimicrobial assays using determined chemicalspecies in solution in order to confirm the major species that are responsible forantimicrobial inactivation. Our results have revealed that plasma treatment of NACsolution creates predominantly reactive nitrogen species versus reactive oxygenspecies and the generated peroxynitrite is responsible for significant bacterialinactivation.