The influence of cold atmospheric pressure plasma on TSH and thyroid hormones in male rats

Cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP) is used as a new tool for various biological and medical applications. As plasma directly contact with organism, so the effect of non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma that generated by Floating Electrode Dielectric Barrier Discharge (FE-DBD) would influence levels of triiodothronine (T3), thyroxin (T4) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) hormones in healthy adult male rats (Albino) / bulb c), which have been divided into groups according to time exposure of plasma (15, 30, 60, and 90 second) and control group (without plasma exposure), with different time intervals after exposure (1, 2, 3, 7, 14, 28 days). The concentration of T3, T4 and TSH hormones are measured by using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Our observations show that T3, T4 and TSH are affected by plasma from the first day of exposure. More specifically, group of (30 sec) shows a significant increase in T3, T4 accompanied with a significant decrease in TSH and conserving in body weight (relative body weight retention) compared to the control. Consistently, there was a significant increase in T4, with a significant decrease in TSH and body weight in group of (60 sec), however, there was no significant change in the level of T3. Moreover, group (90 sec) shows a significant increase in T4 level starts from day one of exposure and reached to control value in the fourth week, with significant decrease in TSH and body weight. Furthermore, group (15 sec) shows slight different in T3 and T4 levels compared to control, with a significant decrease in TSH that concomitant with normal increase of body weight. This result indicates that the plasma effected is different depending on the time exposure, and the time exposure (30, 60, and 90 sec) are effective with maintaining body weight, there is little increase compared to control group.