Purpose: A prototype of an atmospheric pressure cold plasma
(APCP) source has been developed for the treatment of corneal
infections and for ocular surface sterilization. Two minutes of
APCP treatment was previously found effective against various
microorganisms but caused, in corneal fibroblast cultures, transitory
ROS formation, expression of the ogg1 marker of oxidative damage
and increase of apoptosis. In the present study we investigated the
transcriptome changes of whole human cornea (HC) ex vivo exposed
to the disinfectant dose of APCP.
Methods: The effects of exposure to APCP for 2 min on HC, in the
absence or presence of the antioxidant N-acetyl L-cysteine (NAC)
and related to unexposed controls were assessed at 6 h post-treatment
by histological and immunohistochemical analysis, Western blotting
and Illlumina RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). Additional HC were
subsequently exposed to APCP in the same conditions to measure the
expression
