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CHAPTER 3 3.1 Abstract The development of hypersensitivity following spinal cord injury can result in incurable persistent neuropathic pain. The objective was to examine the effect of red light therapy on the development of hypersensitivity and sensorimotor function, as well as on microglia/macrophage subpopulations following spinal cord injury. Wistar rats were treated (or sham treated) daily for 30 minutes with an LED red (670 nm) light source (35 mW/cm2), transcutaneously applied to the dorsal surface, following a mild T10 hemicontusion injury (or sham injury). The development of hypersensitivity was assessed and sensorimotor function established using locomotor recovery and electrophysiology of dorsal column pathways. Immunohistochemistry and TUNEL were performed to examine cellular changes in the spinal cord. It was demonstrated that red light penetrates through the entire rat spinal cord and significantly reduces signs of hypersensitivity following a mild T10 hemicontusion spinal cord injury. This is accompanied with improved dorsal column pathway functional integrity and locomotor recovery. The functional improvements were preceded by a significant reduction of dying (TUNEL+) cells and activated microglia/macrophages (ED1+) in the spinal cord. The remaining activated microglia/macrophages were predominantly of the anti-inflammatory/wound-healing sub- population (Arginase1+ED1+). These were expressed early and in up to 7-fold greater numbers than that found in sham-treated animals. These findings demonstrate that a simple yet inexpensive treatment regime of red light reduces the development of hypersensitivity along with sensorimotor improvements following spinal cord injury, and may therefore offer new hope for a currently treatment resistant pain condition. 3.2 Introduction The experience of pain serves as an essential survival mechanism that motivates us to protect ourselves from harm; however, following spinal cord injury, the development of treatment- resistant neuropathic pain often ensues, bringing no advantage to the sufferer but severely reducing quality of life. Chronic pain affects a vast sector of the population for which the socioeconomic cost exceeds that of heart disease, cancer and diabetes (Gaskin and Richard, 2012); thus, successfully treating neuropathic pain would bring significant benefits. The non-invasive application of light, at wavelengths that penetrate transcutaneously (Anderson and Parrish, 1981), has begun to emerge as a potential therapy for improving functional outcomes from a variety of neural injuries (Fitzgerald et al., 2013). Photobiomodulation with wavelengths ranging from 630-1100nm have demonstrated positive effects in animal models of neurodegenerative diseases such as: Alzheimer’s (Grillo et al., 2013) and Parkinson’s (El Massri et al., 2015), genetic models of dementia (Purushothuman et al., 2015), as well as acute nervous injuries to the retina (Albarracin et al., 2011; Eells et al., 2003; Giacci et al., 2014), optic nerve (Fitzgerald et al., 2010; Giacci et al., 2014), sciatic nerve (Barbosa et al., 2010; Bertolini et al., 2011; Cidral-Filho et al., 2013; Hsieh et al., 2012; Medalha et al., 2012) and spinal cord (Byrnes 56PDF Image | Effects of Red Light Treatment on Spinal Cord Injury
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