Surface Treatment with Non-thermal Humid Argon Plasma as a Treatment for Allergic Contact Dermatitis in a Mouse Model.

Cold plasma generated at atmospheric pressure has attracted intense interest in biomedical applications, particularly as an antimicrobial treatment. Here we report the therapeutic effect of humidified cold argon plasma on allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) in a mouse model. Treatment was carried out with different gas compositions: argon gas containing small amounts of either N2, O2, or H2O. The best effect was obtained using humid plasma (H2O addition), where the ACD symptoms decreased after one or two 1-min plasma treatments. Even for severe ACD with ulcers and crust formation, the humid plasma-treated mice recovered faster than the control group. Histopathological analysis by H&E-staining showed enhanced epithelialization with formation of collagen and hair follicles in the affected skin after humid plasma exposure. The therapeutic ability of the humid argon plasma discharge was proposed to be induced by reactive oxygen species (HxOy) transported from the discharge zone, which are adhesive and accumulate on the skin surface, penetrating the subcutis to eliminate inflammation. However, in treatments using plasma with addition of oxygen or nitrogen (without water) the active gaseous species are blocked due to poor adhesion to and penetration into the dry ACD skin, with correspondingly poor treatment effects. The enhanced in vivo healing in ACD mice indicate the non-thermal humid plasma could be a potential alternative approach for therapy of ACD and other inflammatory skin diseases.

Anti-Müllerian hormone gene polymorphism is associated with androgen levels in Chinese polycystic ovary syndrome patients with insulin resistance.

PURPOSE: The objective of the study was to investigate whether genetic polymorphisms of the anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) and its specific receptor anti-Müllerian hormone type II receptor (AMHRII) were associated with the hormone disorder and phenotype of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). METHODS: This case-control study included 141 PCOS patients and 123 normal women. Two polymorphisms of AMH and AMHRII and the clinical characteristics of participants such as body mass index (BMI), serum luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol levels (E2), total testosterone levels (T), and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were analyzed with the case-control sample. Gene-gene interactions of AMH and AMHRII genes were analyzed based multifactor-dimensionality reduction method. RESULTS: A significant difference of AMH gene polymorphisms were observed in IR-PCOS women and controls. The AMH and AMHRII gene polymorphisms were not found a significant difference in non-IR-PCOS and normal groups. To IR-PCOS women, genotypes of AMH were closely related to the serum levels of LH (P = 0.000), testosterone (P = 0.000) and HOMA-IR (P = 0.038), while in the non-IR-PCOS and normal groups, no relationship was found. No impact of AMH and AMHRII gene-gene interactions was demonstrated. CONCLUSIONS: Our research suggests that the diversity of AMH genotypes in the AMH signal pathway may be connected with the susceptibility and phenotype of PCOS with insulin resistance.