Study of Reactive Oxygen or/and Nitrogen Species Binding Processes on E. coli Bacteria with Mass Spectrometry Isotopic Nanoimaging

Today, it is necessary to better understand the role of reactive species in plasmas on biological objects in order to use plasma processes for biomedical applications. Even when well-known plasma set-ups producing one main reactive species in a controlled environment are used, it is still difficult to understand reactive species interaction processes with biological systems. In this study, nanoimaging with the most sensitive mass spectrometry technology, and the use of isotopic 15N2 or/and 18O2 containing-Ar gas mixtures to produce the plasma is proposed in order to obtain isotopic and elemental data on microwave late afterglow treated Escherichia coli bacteria. By this way, new data dealing with reactive species binding processes on plasma treated bacteria by using NanoSIMS50 mass spectrometer are obtained.