“PhotoBioModulation: Overview of the Pubmed Literature on Low Level Light Therapy”

“Low-level light therapy (LLLT), also known as photo biomodulation (PBM), is a type of optical therapy that uses red or near-infrared lasers or light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for medical treatment. The laser wavelengths involved in PBM typically range between 600-700 nm and 780-1100 nm, with power densities ranging between 5 mW/cm2 and 5 W/cm2. PBM is a series of biochemical cascades exhibited by biological tissues after absorbing a certain amount of energy from light.”  It has been used (in the clinic and the laboratory) for treating myriad diseases and conditions, and offers a non-painful and “non-invasive” primary or supplementary approach to ameliorating these medical conditions.  Some of the application areas addressed include dermatology, pain, neurodegeneration, dentistry, bone repair, musculoskeletal disorders, depression, diabetes, coronary, thyroid disorders, among many others.

The present Op-ed uses a comprehensive query to search Pubmed and identify a wide range of existing and potential applications of PBM.  This study presents 1) a taxonomy of the Pubmed-retrieved literature, 2) an overview of the diseases/symptoms/conditions and parts of the anatomy treated by PBM, and 3) an analysis of PBM application to four of the major side-effects from Covid-19 vaccines.

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

PBM with advanced light sources has been around since the 1960s, shortly after the demonstration of lasers by Theodore Maiman.  While lasers have been the main light source used in Low Light Level Therapy (LLLT) (aka PBM), recent years have seen the advent of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as an alternative source.  The main frequencies used are in the red/near-infrared in the ranges shown in the Overview, although other frequencies, such as blue, are used in targeted applications.

Part of the benefits from PBM may have a hormetic basis.  “at very low levels of irradiation, photons are absorbed by subcellular chromophores present inside intracellular organelles, most notably, mitochondria. Absorption of energy by cytochrome C oxidase (CCO) in the mitochondrial respiratory chain is the primary initiating interaction triggering PBM effects…..Both adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production and oxygen consumption by the cells increase. This may lead to changes in nitric oxide (NO) levels, activation of secondary messenger pathways, activation of transcription factors, and growth factor production…..At this very low level, energy is absorbed by the cell but at such low amounts of energy that there are no observable gross changes (temperature or photochemical damage).

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