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Light
Therapy may help in treating Parkinson's
Disease
Newswise — Low level light therapy (LLLT)
holds potential for improving neuronal cell
function in patients with Parkinson’s
Disease (PD), according to a new study from
the University of Virginia Health System.
Published online by Molecular
Neurodegeneration on June 17, 2009, the
study is the latest in a series of articles
by researchers at the UVA Morris K. Udall
Parkinson’s Research Center of Excellence
about promising new treatments for
re-energizing the cellular engines of
patients with PD and other neurodegenerative
diseases.
Led by Patricia A. Trimmer, PhD, associate
professor of neurological research at the
UVA School of Medicine, the in vitro study
showed that a single, brief treatment with a
810 nm low level, near-infrared laser
increased for two-hours the velocity of
mitochondrial movement in cells taken from
patients with sporadic PD, speeding it up to
levels comparable to cells from a
disease-free, age-matched control group.
“Our findings provide early-stage
confirmation that LLLT has the potential to
improve neuronal function in many patients
with PD and other neurological diseases,”
says Trimmer.
Interestingly, the most dysfunctional
patient cells had the weakest response to
LLLT. The therapy had no impact on healthy
control group cells.
Mitochondria are the cellular engines that
transform food into fuel in our bodies and
perform their work in the energy-intensive
tissue of our brains, retinas, hearts and
skeletal muscles.
In PD patients, mitochondria become
metabolically and functionally compromised.
Cells slow down, become ineffective in
generating energy and over-produce oxygen
free radicals.
If produced in excess, oxygen free radicals
chemically attack all cell components,
including proteins, DNA and lipids in cell
membranes.
As Trimmer points out, numerous
investigational PD drugs have demonstrated
efficacy in animal models but proven largely
ineffective in humans.
By
contrast, LLLT is already being used to
treat a wide range of human conditions
involving injury and inflammation.
It has also been evaluated in Phase 2
clinical trials as a way to ameliorate the
consequences of stroke.
Study co-authors were Kathleen M. Schwartz
and M. Kathleen Borland of the Morris K.
Udall Parkinson’s Research Center of
Excellence at UVA, Luis De Taboada and
Jackson Streeter of PhotoThera, Inc., and
Uri Oron of Tel-Aviv University in Tel-Aviv,
Israel.
Related link:
http://www.molecularneurodegeneration.com/
Reduced axonal transport in Parkinson's
disease cybrid neurites is restored by light
therapy - Patricia A. Trimmer, Kathleen M.
Schwartz, M. Kathleen Borland, Luis De
Taboada, Jackson Streeter, Uri Oron
Molecular Neurodegeneration 2009, 4:26 (17
June 2009)
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