Project Leader: Prof. W. Maus-Friedrichs, Prof. W. Viöl

Funding period: 10/2011 - 09/2013
Funding body: DFG, Bonn
Funding reference: Ma 1893/20

Contact partner: Dipl.-Phys. Marcel Marschewski

The mechanisms of action in the plasma treatment of biological tissue have until now only been understood in part. The mandate of this project is to clarify the mechanisms of action of the dielectrically restricted atmospheric pressure plasma on the external skin barrier, and in this case in particular on the lipids of the stratum corneum. Although the lipids of the stratum corneum are of great importance to the skin's barrier function, and in recent times a number of important findings have been published relating to mutations in the filaggrin gene and the associated conditions such as ichthyosis and atopic dermatitis, meaning that here too there is still a great deal of basic research required in order to fully record the correlations.

This project is intended to make a contribution to the development of physically founded strategies for the use of plasma devices and their parameter limits, and for the systematic examination of the skin barrier function. Of particular medical interest are the comparison of the lipid composition of human beings and mice with filaggrin mutations and the influence of plasma on the lipids with the comparison of samples from humans and mice. In order to cope with the complexity and the interdisciplinary subject matter, a partner from each of the medical, physical and technical fields are involved in the application process.

The following spectroscopic diagnosis methods are to be used: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) and the particularly surface-sensitive "Metastable Induced Electron Spectroscopy" (MIES).