Effect of laser therapy on wound contraction and cellularity in mice

Abstract

The effect was investigated of combined pulsed infrared and continuous wave heliumneon mid-laser therapy on wound contraction and wound bed cellularity, and the effects were compared of variation in the infrared pulsing frequency. The laser used was the Space Mix-5 Mid-Laser and the wounds studied were full-thickness excised skin lesions made in the flank skin of CD1 adult female mice, which were maintained under general anaesthesia during both excision and irradiation. Treatment at 700 Hz increased wound contraction in comparison with treatment at 1200 Hz, when all other controllable parameters were kept constant. By 11 days after injury the cellularity of the wound bed was greater in the wounds treated with 700 Hz than in those treated with 1200 Hz, with the greatest difference being found in the number of fibroblasts, the cells primarily responsible for wound contraction.