Publication
Photobiomodulation (PBM) represents a promising and powerful approach for non-invasive therapeutic interventions. This emerging field of research has gained a considerable attention due to its potential for multiple disciplines, including medicine, neuroscience, and sports medicine. While PBM has shown the ability to stimulate various cellular processes in numerous medical applications, the fine-tuning of treatment parameters, such as wavelength, irradiance, treatment duration, and illumination geometry, remains an ongoing challenge. Furthermore, additional research is necessary to unveil the specific mechanisms of action and establish standardized protocols for diverse clinical applications. Given the widely accepted understanding that mitochondria play a pivotal role in the PBM mechanisms, our study delves into a multitude of PBM illumination parameters while assessing the PBM's effects on the basis of endpoints reflecting the mitochondrial metabolism of human cardiac myocytes (HCM), that are known for their high mitochondrial density. These endpoints include: i) the endogenous production of protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), ii) changes in mitochondrial potential monitored by Rhodamine 123 (Rhod 123), iii) changes in the HCM's oxygen consumption, iv) the fluorescence lifetime of Rhod 123 in mitochondria, and v) alterations of the mitochondrial morphology. The good correlation observed between these different methods to assess PBM effects underscores that monitoring the endogenous PpIX production offers interesting indirect insights into the mitochondrial metabolic activity. This conclusion is important since many approved therapeutics and cancer detection approaches are based on the use of PpIX. Finally, this correlation strongly suggests that the PBM effects mentioned above have a common “fundamental” mechanistic origin.