PLASMA AEROSOL INHALATION DEVICE AND METHOD FOR THINNING THE SPUTUM

Abstract

The present invention provides a plasma aerosol inhalation device and a method for thinning the sputum. Various radicals generated by plasma can be inhaled in an aerosol form and delivered to the respiratory system for desired efficacy.

Claims

1. A plasma aerosol inhalation device, comprising: a plasma treatment module including a treatment chamber and a plasma generating unit, wherein a liquid is accommodated in the treatment chamber and the liquid in the treatment chamber is treated by a plasma generated by the plasma generating unit so as to form a plasma-treated liquid; a nebulization module interconnecting with the plasma treatment module, wherein the plasma-treated liquid exported from the plasma treatment module is nebulized into a plasma aerosol; and an inhalation element interconnecting with the nebulization module and having at least one of the nasal inhalation part and an oral inhalation part, wherein the plasma aerosol outputted by the nebulization module is transported to a respiratory system through at least one of the nasal inhalation part and the oral inhalation part.

2. The plasma aerosol inhalation device of claim 1, wherein the liquid is water, the plasma-treated liquid is plasma-treated water, and the plasma aerosol is plasma water aerosol.

3. A plasma aerosol inhalation device, comprising: a nebulization module nebulizing a liquid into an aerosol; a plasma treatment module including a treatment chamber and a plasma generating unit, wherein the treatment chamber is interconnected to the nebulization module, wherein the aerosol exported from the nebulization module is accommodated in the treatment chamber and the aerosol in the treatment chamber is treated by a plasma generated by the plasma generating unit so as to form a plasma aerosol; and an inhalation element interconnected to the plasma treatment module and having at least one of a nasal inhalation part and an oral inhalation part, wherein the plasma aerosol outputted by the plasma treatment module is transported to a respiratory system through at least one of the nasal inhalation part and the oral inhalation part.

4. The plasma aerosol inhalation device of claim 3, wherein the liquid is water, the aerosol is water aerosol, and the plasma aerosol is plasma water aerosol.

5. The plasma aerosol inhalation device of claim 1, wherein the inhalation element is a nasal mask, an oral mask, an oral-nasal mask, a nasal conduit, or an oral conduit.

6. The plasma aerosol inhalation device of claim 1, wherein the plasma generating unit generates plasma using air and oxygen as a reaction gas.

7. The plasma aerosol inhalation device of claim 1, wherein a nozzle diameter of the nebulization module is below 20 m.

8. A method for thinning the sputum, comprising the following steps: delivering an effective amount of plasma aerosol to a respiratory system of a subject in need using the plasma aerosol inhalation device of claim 1.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the plasma aerosol is a plasma water aerosol.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein a droplet particle size of the plasma aerosol is under 20 m.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the plasma aerosol inhalation device of one embodiment of the present invention;

[0015] FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the method of delivering the plasma aerosol into the respiratory system of one embodiment of the present invention;

[0016] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the plasma aerosol inhalation device of another embodiment of the present invention;

[0017] FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the method of delivering the plasma aerosol into the respiratory system of another embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] FIG. 5 is the result of the microrheological properties of the artificial sputum (30 mg/ml mucin) in the control group (DI water) and the experimental group (plasma water aerosol); and

[0019] FIG. 6 is the result of the microrheological properties of the artificial sputum with different viscosity (30 mg/ml, 60 mg/ml) in the control group (DI water) and the experimental group (plasma water aerosol).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0020] Hereafter, examples will be provided to illustrate the embodiments of the present invention. Advantages and effects of the invention will become more apparent from the disclosure of the present invention. Other various aspects also may be practiced or applied in the invention, and various modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention based on various concepts and applications.

Embodiment 1

[0021] Please refer to FIG. 1, which shows the block chart of the plasma aerosol inhalation device of the present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the plasma aerosol inhalation device 100 comprised: a plasma treatment module 10 including a treatment chamber 11 and a plasma generating unit 13, wherein a liquid L was accommodated in the treatment chamber 11 and a plasma P generated by the plasma generating unit 13 was applied to the liquid L in the treatment chamber 11 for forming a plasma-treated liquid L; a nebulization module 30 interconnected with the treatment chamber 11 of plasma treatment module 10, wherein the plasma-treated liquid L exported from the treatment chamber 11 was nebulized into a plasma aerosol G; and an inhalation element 50, which interconnected with the nebulization module, wherein the plasma aerosol G outputted from the nebulization module 30 was delivered to the respiratory system through the inhalation element 50.

[0022] In the present embodiment, the liquid L was deionized water (DI water), and the plasma-treated liquid L was plasma-treated water. The plasma-treated water was then nebulized into a plasma water aerosol G with 1-10 m droplet particle size. Here, the plasma generating unit 13 included a quartz tube with 3 mm inner diameter and 5 mm outer diameter, and a platinum electrode with 1 mm diameter and 20 mm length disposed inside the quartz tube. 2 slm (standard liter per minute) of two different low-pressure gas, which were compressed air (21% O.sub.2+79% N.sub.2) and oxygen (99.99% O.sub.2), were inputted into the quartz tube. The platinum electrode is connected with an AC signal, having a 20 kHz frequency and 34 kV voltage, in order to form a low-pressure plasma. The quartz tube is covered with a ceramic tube with 5 mm inner diameter and 8 mm outer diameter for avoiding electric arc.

[0023] According to the method flow chart shown in FIG. 2, the present embodiment provides a method of delivering a plasma aerosol into a respiratory system. The plasma aerosol may be administered to the respiratory system through the steps in the following paragraph and please refer to the block diagram of the plasma aerosol inhalation device 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 at the same time.

[0024] Step S1: performing the plasma treatment to process the liquid L into the plasma-treated liquid L using the plasma generating unit 13. Here, the quartz tube is immersed in 100 ml of DI water (liquid L) in 40 mm to perform the plasma treatment. After approximately 10 minutes of plasma treatment, the plasma water (plasma-treated liquid L) is obtained.

[0025] Step S2: nebulizing the plasma-treated liquid L into the plasma aerosol G using nebulization module 30. In order to deliver the plasma water (plasma-treated liquid L) to the respiratory system, the nozzle diameter of the nebulization module 30 was below 10 m so that the droplet particle size of the plasma water aerosol (plasma aerosol G) was 110 m.

[0026] Step S3: inhaling the plasma aerosol G into the respiratory system through mouth and/or nose. Here, the inhalation element 50 may be used for inhaling the plasma water aerosol (plasma-treated aerosol G) into the respiratory system. The inhalation element 50 may include at least one of a nasal inhalation part and an oral inhalation part. For example, the inhalation element may be a nasal mask, an oral mask, an oral-nasal mask, a nasal conduit, or an oral conduit.

Embodiment 2

[0027] Please refer to FIG. 3, which shows the block diagram of the plasma aerosol inhalation device of another embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the plasma aerosol inhalation device 200 of the present embodiment comprised: a nebulization module 20 nebulizing a liquid L to an aerosol G; a plasma treatment module 40 including a treatment chamber 41 and a plasma generating unit 43, wherein the treatment chamber 41 was interconnected to the nebulization module for accommodating the aerosol G exported by the nebulization module 20, and a plasma P was generated by the plasma generating unit 43 to process the aerosol G in the treatment chamber into a plasma aerosol G; and an inhalation element 60 interconnected to the treatment chamber 41 of the nebulization module 40, wherein the plasma aerosol G exported by the treatment chamber 41 was delivered to the plasma aerosol G to the respiratory system through the inhalation element 60.

[0028] According to the method flow chart illustrated in FIG. 4, the present embodiment provides another method for delivering the plasma aerosol into the respiratory system. The plasma aerosol may be administered to the respiratory system through the steps in the following paragraph and please refer to the block diagram of the plasma aerosol inhalation device 200 illustrated in FIG. 3 at the same time.

[0029] Step S1: nebulizing the liquid L to aerosol G using the nebulization module 20. The nozzle diameter of the nebulization 20 was below 20 m so that the droplet particle size of the water aerosol (aerosol G) was 120 m.

[0030] Step S2: plasma treating the aerosol G to process the aerosol G to the plasma aerosol G using the plasma treatment module 40, wherein various radicals (ROS/RNS) generated by the plasma were carried by the water aerosol (aerosol G) after the water aerosol was treated with plasma.

[0031] Step S3: inhaling the plasma aerosol G through mouth and/or nose. This step was the same as described in Embodiment 1, and the same description need not be repeated.

Test Example

[0032] Artificial sputum was prepared by dissolving mucin (10 mg/ml60 mg/ml) in saline solution in order to stimulate the sputum of different concentration in the respiratory system under different health conditions. The water aerosol (droplet particle size 120 m) prepared by the aforementioned methods were added directly to the artificial sputum. The viscous-elastic properties of the sputum were analyzed by multiple-particle tracking. According to the test results shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the rate of change of the ratio of Mean squared displacement of the particle to lag time of the experimental groups administered with the plasma water aerosol (PW) was significantly higher compared to that of the control group (DI water; DI). This result showed that the plasma water aerosol was able to significantly decrease the viscosity of the sputum.

[0033] Accordingly, the present invention verified that the plasma aerosol may be applied to thin the sputum. Therefore, the plasma-treated liquid may serve as an inhalant, the inhalant may be delivered into the respiratory system by nebulizing the plasma-treated liquid to disperse and thin the sputum in practical applications. More specifically, the radicals (ROS/RNS) carried by the plasma water aerosol may react with mucin, DNA molecules, and actin microfilament in the sputum to degrade those biological long-chain polymers in the sputum so that the object of diluting the sputum is achieved.