Argon/Air and Helium/Air Atmospheric Plasma Jet Inactivation of Candida Albicans Biofilm Formed from Clinical Strains

Summary form only given. Biofilms are a predominant cause of fungal infections associated with the use of catheters and prostheses, being the yeasts of the genus Candida spp, the most frequently isolated
¹
. The non-thermal plasma operated at atmospheric pressure is gaining prominence as a new antimicrobial strategy
²
. The aim of this work is to conduct a comparative assessment of the efficacy of different mixture of atmospheric plasma jet on inactivation process of Candida albicansbiofilms formed from clinical strains on polyurethane substrate. For this purpose, the following chemical compositions were used: Argon/air and helium/air. A gliding arc discharge reactor was used to generate the plasma jet
²
. The samples were divided into three groups: (I) Control, (II) 6 L/min of He and 4 L/min of air, (III) 6 L/min of Ar and 4 L/min of air. Subsequent to the treatment, it was performed the counting of the colony forming units (CFU / mL) and the morphology of biofilms was evaluated by Scanning Electron Microscopy. For the analysis of the plasma, we used the optical emission spectroscopy technique, in order to characterize its chemistry. All groups had significant reduction of CFUs when compared to the control group. For group II was observed a reduction of 72.5%, and for group III a reduction of 83%. Discussions were performed in order to better understand the effect of OH specie on clinical-based C. albicansbiofilm degradation.