Atmospheric pressure nonthermal plasmas for bacterial biofilm prevention and eradication.

Biofilms are three-dimensional structures formed by surface-attached microorganisms and their extracellular products. Biofilms formed by pathogenic microorganisms play an important role in human diseases. Higher resistance to antimicrobial agents and changes in microbial physiology make treating biofilm infections very complex. Atmospheric pressure nonthermal plasmas (NTPs) are a novel and powerful tool for antimicrobial treatment. The microbicidal activity of NTPs has an unspecific character due to the synergetic actions of bioactive components of the plasma torch, including charged particles, reactive species, and UV radiation. This review focuses on specific traits of biofilms, their role in human diseases, and those effects of NTP that are helpful for treating biofilm infections. The authors discuss NTP-based strategies for biofilm control, such as surface modifications to prevent bacterial adhesion, killing bacteria in biofilms, and biofilm destruction with NTPs. The unspecific character of microbicidal activity, proven polymer modification and destruction abilities, low toxicity for human tissues and absence of long-living toxic compounds make NTPs a very promising tool for biofilm prevention and control.