Introduction To Photobiomodultaion (PBM) and Red Light Therapy (RLT)

I will use the terms photobiomodulation (PBM), Red Light Therapy (RLT), and Photobiology to mean one and the same and the terms will be used interchangeably in the following text.

History of Light Therapy

We can start the beginning of light therapy to treat and cure human illness with the ancient Egyptians. Sunlight’s ability to positively affect human health had been known and used by ancient Egyptians. The first recorded use of phototherapy.

UV Light and Skin Disease (1903)

In 1903, Nils Finsen, a Danish physician, was awarded the Nobel Prize for successfully treating skin diseases such as lupus vulgaris with artificial ultraviolet light. Niels Finsen is considered the founder of modern Phototherapy.

UV Light and Testosterone (1939)

The ability of UV light to stimulate testosterone in men has been known since a 1939 clinical study. Dr. Myerson, exposed the chest area of men to UV light over the course of five days. The results of the exposure boosted testosterone levels incrementally over the five days ending on the fifth day with a 120% increase over baseline.

Dr. Myerson then stopped the UV exposure and watch the testosterone levels incrementally decrease and returned to baseline after a period of 8 days.

The next experiment followed the same course of treatment but exposed the male genitals with UV light instead of the chest. Again, over the course of a five-day treatment, testosterone levels incrementally increased and by the fifth day, there was a 200% increase over baseline. Exposure was stopped and again testosterone levels dropped back to baseline over an 8 day period (study), (study).

Science took another leap forward in the 1960s with the invention of the laser.

The Father of Photobiomodulation (1967)

In 1967, Professor Endre Mester, wanted to replicate an experiment perform in the United States where a laser was used to destroy malignant cancer tumors in mice. The laser available to him in Hungary was not as powerful as the one used in the United States. Because of this, the laser failed to kill the implanted cancer tumors.

While the laser was too weak to destroy the implanted tumors, the laser light had sufficient strength to stimulate the skin tissue to promote the rapid healing of the surgical incision.

This observation perplexed Mester, who was using the laser to destroy “cancer” tissue. But this observation led him to continue to experiment with low-level laser light for the next six years and he confirmed that the laser light did promote faster healing of the skin. He also made far-reaching additional discoveries regarding Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT), which included: promoted hair growth, help heal skin ulcers, infected wounds, increased collagen production, decreased arthritis pain, anti-inflammatory. He achieved these results with laser energies as low as 1 Joule/cm2.

NASA (1990s)

In the early 1990s, NASA adapted the technology for medical purposes in space flight. It’s the ability to speed wound healing, burns, and skin ulcers help offset the disadvantages of microgravity on wound healing. In other words, it could help prevent minor injuries to astronauts in space from becoming catastrophic injuries.

Nasa’s research determined that the optimum wavelengths for wound healing were 670 and 880 nm at 4–8 J/cm2 dosage. The power intensity of the light was at 50 mW/cm2.

Photobiomodulation (Today)

Photobiomodulation (PBM) today predominately uses one of two light sources, either low power lasers or Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). Much clinical work has advanced to using LEDs because of the cost and ease of use. Studies that have compared the two light sources find that LEDs work just as well as lasers. However, there are researchers who prefer the coherent light source provided by lasers.

Researchers focus on two bands of light. One is the visible light spectrum with wavelengths between 400–700 nm. The other band of light is in the infrared spectrum between 700 -1100 nm wavelengths.

Much of the work I have read on using red light center on wavelengths around 660 nm and 850 nm. Different researchers have used other wavelengths of light, but usually not too far from these quoted wavelengths.

Applications:

How It Works & Why It Works

What I found so amazing (hard to believe) about this technology was how one type of treatment could be applicable and beneficial for so many diverse human aliments. The reason turned out to be not complex at all, as one might have imagined.

RLT performs one major effect on cells, it stimulates a cell’s mitochondria to perform whatever function that cell was designed to do. So regardless of whether that cell is a brain cell, nerve, muscle, bone, skin, etc., its function can be enhanced using photobiomodulation.

How this happens is interesting. If you remember from your school biology class, the mitochondrion is an organelle inside the cell. The mitochondria were called the powerhouse of the cell because they synthesized ATP compounds the cells used for energy. So when the mitochondria are stimulated, they create more ATP compounds, which the cell uses to function, thereby improving and stimulating the function of the cell.

A human cell may contain thousands of mitochondria. How many mitochondria organelles any particular cell contains depends upon the type of cell.

So putting this information together, we have the cells are stimulated to do what the cell was designed to do because its mitochondria are stimulated to supply more energy to the cell.

How Mitochondria Produce More ATP from Light

The mitochondria have molecules that are capable of absorbing photons of light. These molecules are called chromophores. One main chromophore that has been identified is cytochrome c oxidase or as its known by its friends, CCO. This chromophore is found in the membranes of the mitochondria. When CCO absorbs photons of light it causes an increase in the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is an organic compound that provides energy to the cell.

This is a quick overview of basic photochemistry. For a more in-depth look into this biochemistry, I recommend the following book “Low-Level Light Therapy: Photobiomodulation” by Hamblin, Ferraresi, Huang, Freitas and Carroll.

There are other pathways and aspects of the biochemistry of RLT, like the reduction of inflammation, protein synthesis, and increased blood flow. For instance, nitric oxide (NO) is often produced with RLT. NO is a vasodilator that will increase blood flow to an area.

Why This Information Is Important

It’s true you do not need to understand the biochemistry to use the technology. In the same way, you don’t need to be an auto mechanic to drive a car. Still, a little understanding goes a long way. But essentially, at least for myself, I needed to understand the underpinning of how something like RLT can improve my cognitive ability at the same time as help me lose fat and promote muscle recovery and strength, all at the same time. These divergent applications do not appear to have a common thread connecting them, until you realize how RLT powers up the mitochondria in cells making all this possible.

Suffice to say you don’t need to study the biochemistry of RLT unless it interests you. I will touch upon biochemistry again later when it relates to other topics. One thing you do need to know is the biphasic response because it relates directly to using RLT.

Biphasic Response — Too Much Of A Good Thing

One important aspect of RLT is the biphasic response. Which means more light is not necessarily better. In fact, more can be worse. It’s best explained in the chart below.

Why Try Photobiomodulation?

For forty years, researchers working with photobiomodulation have proven the technology to be safe and non-invasive. The PBM equipment lends itself to home use, which allows treatments without visits to a doctor or clinic. While many studies use only a handful of subjects, the results are clear and sometimes striking.

More Information on Red Light Therapy and Photobiomodulation

I recently published a book on Red Light Therapy, titled “Living Younger Longer Using Red Light Therapy”. The book is available on Amazon.com, I have ePub, PDF, and print books available from my website at :

https://john-iovine.com/living-younger-longer.html

Living Younger Longer Using Red Light Therapy

Disclaimer

The content and information contained in this article are for informational purposes only. The information provided in this article is not and must not be taken as an alternative to any advice by a doctor, physician, or medical professional.

The author, John Iovine, has narrated his research experiences in this article by observing and evaluating facts and figures. The reliance on the facts and figures has been done in good faith and believed to be reliable according to the author’s best knowledge. The sources of referenced information could change or be updated in the future. The author cannot guarantee the validity and accuracy of the sources which may change, be modified, updated, or removed in the future, and thus, disclaims himself from any such changes, modifications, updates, and removals.