Effects of Laser Radiation on Mitochondria and Mitochondrial Proteins Subjected to Nitric Oxide

Photobiomodulation therapy assisted orthodontic tooth movement: potential implications, challenges, and new perspectives

Over the past decade, dramatic progress has been made in dental research areas involving laser therapy. The photobiomodulatory effect of laser light regulates the behavior of periodontal tissues and promotes damaged tissues to heal faster. Additionally, photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT), a non-invasive treatment, when applied in orthodontics, contributes to alleviating pain and reducing inflammation induced by orthodontic forces, along with improving tissue healing processes. Moreover, PBMT is attracting more attention as a possible approach to prevent the incidence of orthodontically induced inflammatory root resorption (OIIRR) during orthodontic treatment (OT) due to its capacity to modulate inflammatory, apoptotic, and anti-antioxidant responses. However, a systematic review revealed that PBMT has only a moderate grade of evidence-based effectiveness during orthodontic tooth movement (OTM) in relation to OIIRR, casting doubt on its beneficial effects. In PBMT-assisted orthodontics, delivering sufficient energy to the tooth root to achieve optimal stimulation is challenging due to the exponential attenuation of light penetration in periodontal tissues. The penetration of light to the root surface is another crucial unknown factor. Both the penetration depth and distribution of light in periodontal tissues are unknown. Thus, advanced approaches specific to orthodontic application of PBMT need to be established to overcome these limitations. This review explores possibilities for improving the application and effectiveness of PBMT during OTM. The aim was to investigate the current evidence related to the underlying mechanisms of action of PBMT on various periodontal tissues and cells, with a special focus on immunomodulatory effects during OTM.

A pilot study on the effects of transcutaneous and transmucosal laser irradiation on blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol in women

The present pilot study had the objective to determine the effects of transcutaneous and transmucosal laser irradiation on arterial blood pressure (ABP), glucose (Glu) triglycerides (Tg), total cholesterol (Ch), high-density level cholesterol (HDL) and low-density cholesterol (LDL) immediately after treatment (T0) and after 30 (T30) and 60 (T60) days. Patients (n = 36) were selected and randomly distributed into 6 groups (n = 6/group; [G1] negative control, [G2] radial artery transcutaneous laser irradiation [G3] radial artery transcutaneous irradiation, [G4] transmucosal sublingual irradiation, [G5] transmucosal intra-nasal irradiation and [G6] extended radial artery transcutaneous irradiation). Blood exams were performed at T0, T30 and T60. Systolic and diastolic pressure results have indicated that patients' pressures ranged from 90 mmHg (P22, T30, G4) to 189 mmHg (P16, T0, G3) and 54 mmHg (P21, T60, G4) to 175 mmHg (P16, T30, G3). Levels of Glu at T30 and T60 varied from 5.53% (G1) to -5.78% (G6) and 1.21 (G2) to -8.69 (G6), respectively. Data was statistically assessed for normality and homogeneity of variances using the F-statistic and Bartlett's tests. Significant differences were determined using One-Way ANOVA and Fischer post hoc tests. Results indicated that treatments investigated can be safely used as an adjunct method to regulate blood pressure, glucose, triglycerides and cholesterol.

Aspergillus nidulans biofilm formation modifies cellular architecture and enables light-activated autophagy

After growing on surfaces, including those of medical and industrial importance, fungal biofilms self-generate internal microenvironments. We previously reported that gaseous microenvironments around founder Aspergillus nidulans cells change during biofilm formation causing microtubules to disassemble under control of the hypoxic transcription factor SrbA. Here we investigate if biofilm formation might also promote changes to structures involved in exocytosis and endocytosis. During biofilm formation, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) remained intact but ER exit sites and the Golgi apparatus were modified as were endocytic actin patches. The biofilm-driven changes required the SrbA hypoxic transcription factor and could be triggered by nitric oxide, further implicating gaseous regulation of biofilm cellular architecture. By tracking green fluorescent protein (GFP)-Atg8 dynamics, biofilm founder cells were also observed to undergo autophagy. Most notably, biofilm cells that had undergone autophagy were triggered into further autophagy by spinning disk confocal light. Our findings indicate that fungal biofilm formation modifies the secretory and endocytic apparatus and show that biofilm cells can also undergo autophagy that is reactivated by light. The findings provide new insights into the changes occurring in fungal biofilm cell biology that potentially impact their unique characteristics, including antifungal drug resistance.