Glucocorticoids are considered gold standard treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Moreover, treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSADs) may also have positive effects on management of the muscular symptoms of this disease. However, prolonged use of these drugs leads to development of important adverse effects. In addition, the use of photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) has demonstrated an important role in delay muscular impairments in disease progression, with protective effect on the skeletal muscle without adverse effects reported. Therefore, we compared the effects of PBMT, glucocorticoids and NSAIDs applied alone or combined in mdx mice. The pharmacological treatment was performed with oral drugs (Prednisone and ibuprofen) every day during 14 consecutives weeks. The PBMT was performed using a cluster probe with 9 diodes (1 laser diode of 905 nm, 4 LED diodes of 875 nm, and 4 LED diodes of 640 nm) on only 1 point on the ventral region of the animal’s tibialis anterior muscle. The results showed that glucocorticoids and PBMT improving the functional performance, compared to placebo-control group. However, PBMT was also better than the other groups of treatment. In this way, we believe that the promising and optimistic results about the PBMT in skeletal muscle of mdx mice may in the future contribute to this therapy to be considered a safe alternative for patients with DMD in a washout period (between treatment periods with glucocorticoids), allowing them to remain receiving effective and safe treatment in this period, avoiding at this way periods without administration of any treatment.
This study aimed to investigate the effects of PBMT with a synergistic combination of lasers and light emitting diodes (LEDs) with three different wavelengths and three doses on cytochrome c oxidase activity in intact skeletal muscle, and also to determine the time-window between irradiation and increased activity on cytochrome c-oxidase in skeletal muscle fibers. Male Wistar rats (240 ± 20g) were divided into two groups (placebo and PBMT) where seven different experimental time-points were tested. Transcutaneous PBMT was irradiated at tibialis anterior muscles employing a cluster with 9 diodes (1 laser diode of 905nm, 4 LED diodes of 875nm, 4 LED diodes of 640nm – manufactured by Multi Radiance Medical™), with different doses (1, 3 and 10 J). Then muscles were removed at different experimental time-points (5, 10, 30 minutes, 1, 2, 12 and 24 hours) and the analyses of cytochrome c oxidase expression were performed by immunohistochemistry. PBMT with 10 J dose increased cytochrome c oxidase expression with significant difference (p<0.05) when compared to the placebo group at all time-points tested. The 3 J dose showed significant differences (p<0.05) when compared to the placebo group from 30 mins to 12 h time-points, and the 1J dose showed significant differences (p<0.05) when compared to the placebo group from 30 mins to 24 h. PBMT with the combination of super-pulsed laser, red and infrared LEDs can increase cytochrome c-oxidase activity in intact skeletal muscle mainly with 10 J dose fulfilling the time-response window from 5 minutes until 24 hours after irradiation.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic inflammatory disease and is characterized as a degenerative process. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the effects of a topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), physical activity, and photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) applied alone and/or in combination between them in an experimental model of knee OA. OA was induced by injection of papain in the knees of rats. After 21 days, the animals started to be treated with the above treatment. Histological analysis shows that the experimental model of OA induction causes morphological changes consistent with the disease, and among treatments, the PBMT is the most effective for reducing these changes. Moreover, the results demonstrate that PBMT and NSAID reduce the total number of cells in the inflammatory infiltrate (p<0.05) and PBMT was the most effective for reducing the activity of myeloperoxidase (p<0.05). Finally, we observed that both NSAID and PBMT were effective for reducing the gene expression of MMP-3 (p<0.05), but in relation to the gene expression of MMP-13, PBMT was the most effective treatment (p<0.05). The results of this study indicate that PBMT is the most effective therapy in stopping disease progression, and improving inflammatory conditions observed in OA.
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