Success in decomposing blowfish poison using atmospheric pressure low-temperature plasma

Associate professor Akitoshi Okino, of the Tokyo Institute of Technology's Department of Energy Sciences, and Professor Takeshi Azuma, of the Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine's Department of Gastroenterology, succeeded in the decomposition of the tetrodotoxin known as blowfish poison using atmospheric pressure low-temperature plasma. It was confirmed that the concentration of the tetrodotoxin was reduced to 1/100 by exposing it for 10 minutes to atmospheric pressure low-temperature plasma generated from nitrogen gas.

Particles such as highly active radicals are formed due to the atmospheric pressure low-temperature plasma that decomposed the tetrodotoxin, which is a toxin with a stable chemical structure, at room temperature, and it is anticipated that it will be able to decompose other toxins too. Its sterilization effect has been confirmed with respect to Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and fungi, so future developments are expected in areas including the detoxification of food and agricultural products, the removal of bacteria and virus contaminations, the sterilization of food containers and medical implements, and measures against chemical terrorism.

The results appeared in the April 1st issue of the Japanese Society of Toxicology's publication "The Journal of Toxicological Sciences."

The multi-gas plasma device

Reference

Authors:	T. Takamatsu et al.
Title of original paper:	Decomposition of tetrodotoxin using multi-gas plasma jet.
Journal:	The Journal of Toxicological Sciences, Vol. 39, No. 2 (2014)
DOI:	10.2131/jts.39.281