The effect of low-temperature plasma on bacteria as observed by repeated AFM imaging

Research on low-temperature atmospheric plasma sources (LTAPS) has grown strongly over the last few years, in part driven by possible medical 'in vivo' applications. LTAPS offer new technology for medicine and biomedical engineering. Important application examples include in situ production of reactive molecules and ions, delivery at the molecular level, contact-free and self-sterilizing devices. An important issue is the efficient bactericidal effect of LTAPS, which has already been studied widely in vitro. In spite of the many investigations, details of the plasma effect on bacteria are still largely unknown. To contribute to a better understanding of the sterilization process, we investigated the morphological changes of bacteria using atomic force microscopy before and after plasma treatment at high resolution. We examined both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria at different plasma exposure times. Additionally, the effect of UV radiation as one agent in the plasma was investigated separately. Our results suggest that several sterilizing mechanisms exist and they proceed at different timescales.