3:45 PM - 4:00 PM
[21p-W621-2] Use of molecular beacons for the rapid detection of DNA damage induced by exposure to an atmospheric pressure plasma
Keywords:DNA damage,Plasma medicine
Non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasmas have attracted much attention for biomedical applications. DNA is one of the most important biomolecular targets for investigating the effects of plasma exposure. DNA damage is usually investigated using circular plasmid DNA, separated by conventional agarose gel electrophoresis. However, the electrophoretic assay requires long run times. Here, we propose the use of a molecular beacon (MB) for rapid detection of DNA strand breaks induced by atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) irradiation. MBs are oligonucleotides that adopt a stem-and-loop structure and carry a 5'-fluorescent moiety and a 3'-nonfluorescent quenching moiety. Strand breaks on the MB by APPJ irradiation leads to separation of the fluorophore-quencher pair, resulting in an increase in fluorescence that directly correlates with the DNA strand breaks. The results show that the increase in fluorescence intensity is proportional to the exposure time and the rate of fluorescence increase is proportional to the discharge power. This simple and rapid method allows the estimation of DNA damage induced by exposure to a non-thermal plasma.