Plasma Medicine and Osmosis

Abstract

In this paper, attention is drawn to the importance of accounting for osmotic pressure when analyzing physiological effects on cellular structures in plasma medicine. Interaction of a weakly ionized plasma jet with a saline solution leads to a detectable changes in the saline's ion-molecular composition and hence changes in the osmotic pressure. This, in turn, leads to a stretching or compression of the membrane, depending on the difference of total external and internal pressures. The selective effect of plasma on cells, observed in experiments, is associated with the change in the mechanical properties of membranes (and thereby, a weakening of their protective properties). Corresponding estimates are given in the article.