Published in:
01-05-2011 | Original Article
Effects of low-level laser therapy on expression of TNF-α and TGF-β in skeletal muscle during the repair process
Authors:
Raquel Agnelli Mesquita-Ferrari, Manoela Domingues Martins, Jose Antônio Silva Jr., Tatiana Dias da Silva, Roberto Farina Piovesan, Vanessa Christina Santos Pavesi, Sandra Kalil Bussadori, Kristianne Porta Santos Fernandes
Published in:
Lasers in Medical Science
|
Issue 3/2011
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Abstract
The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) on the expression of TNF-α and TGF-β in the tibialis anterior muscle of rats following cryoinjury. Muscle regeneration involves cell proliferation, migration and differentiation and is regulated by growth factors and cytokines. A growing body of evidence suggests that LLLT promotes skeletal muscle regeneration by reducing the duration of acute inflammation and accelerating tissue repair. Adult male Wistar rats (n = 35) were randomly divided into three groups: control group (no lesion, untreated, n = 5), cryoinjury without LLLT group (n = 15), and cryoinjury with LLLT group (n = 15). The injured region was irradiated three times a week using an AlGaInP laser (660 nm; beam spot 0.04 cm2, output power 20 mW, power density 500 mW/cm2, energy density 5 J/cm2, exposure time 10 s). Muscle remodeling was evaluated at 1, 7 and 14 days (long-term) following injury. The muscles were removed and total RNA was isolated using TRIzol reagent and cDNA synthesis. Real-time polymerase chain reactions were performed using TNF-α and TGF-β primers; GAPDH was used to normalize the data. LLLT caused a decrease in TNF-α mRNA expression at 1 and 7 days following injury and in TGF-β mRNA expression at 7 days following cryoinjury in comparison to the control group. LLLT modulated cytokine expression during short-term muscle remodeling, inducing a decrease in TNF-α and TGF-β.