Some neurological disorders may benefit from the use of photobiomodulation, a non-invasive method that involves applying low-intensity light to stimulate specific areas of the body. A recent study has shown that applying photobiomodulation to the brain-gut axis can help improve cognitive impairments and consequences caused by chronic stress. This research suggests new possibilities for using this technique in future treatments for neurological conditions in patients.
Some neurological disorders may benefit from the use of photobiomodulation, a non-invasive method that involves applying low-intensity light to stimulate specific areas of the body. A recent study has shown that applying photobiomodulation to the brain-gut axis can help improve cognitive impairments and consequences caused by chronic stress. This research suggests new possibilities for using this technique in future treatments for neurological conditions in patients.Photobiomodulation is the use of low-intensity light to trigger changes in specific areas of the body. A recent study in the Journal of Affective Disorders found that applying this technique to the brain-gut axis can help improve cognitive impairments and other symptoms caused by chronic stress. This research suggests that photobiomodulation could be used in future treatments for neurological disorders. The study, led by Professor Albert Giralt from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, focused on laboratory animal models.The University of Barcelona’s Institute of Neurosciences (UBneuro) along with teams from UB’s Centre for the Production and Validation of Advanced Therapies (CREATIO), the University of Girona, the University of Montpellier, and the company REGEnLIFE (France) are involved in the study.
The research focuses on the use of low-intensity light to stimulate the gut-brain axis. Photobiomodulation involves using light from lasers or other low-intensity sources to activate the activity of an organ with altered physiology. This study marks the first time this approach is being used in the field of depression.Tobiomodulation is the process of stimulating different organs, with a specific focus on the brain and the gut.
“One of the most groundbreaking aspects of this study is the simultaneous, coordinated stimulation of the brain and the gut, known as the gut-brain axis. Research in this area is currently generating significant scientific interest and shows great promise for potentially treating diseases of the nervous system,” explained Professor Albert Giralt, a member of the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) and the Network Centre for Biomedical Research on Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED).
<p rnrn”The new approach to therapy is centered on the reemerging notion of intervening in and manipulating the communication between the gut and the brain to address neurological and psychiatric disorders,” Giralt explains. “Photobiomodulation is a non-invasive technology that patients tolerate very well and does not have the side effects associated with pharmaceutical treatments. Furthermore, this advancement could also be beneficial in treating conditions with unclear or incomplete medical coverage, such as treatment-resistant depression,” the expert adds.
The devices used for photobiomodulation, which have been developed by REGEnLIFE, are designed to beThis study builds on previous research on Alzheimer’s patients by using multiple stimulation sources (laser, LED, etc.) along with a magnetic ring to stabilize the emission of light in a pulsed manner. This is done to avoid overheating the tissues and is designed for clinical application in patients. The study also aims to show that psychiatric disorders are not only centered in the brain, but that other tissues and organs also play a significant role in their development. This has implications for the development of new therapies.The researcher mentioned that considering all these factors, it is highly likely that we will achieve very good results in the future. Both photobiomodulation and photobiomodulation affect the cervical-intestinal axis. Up to this point, there have only been descriptive studies of the changes caused by photobiomodulation. However, the current study explores the molecular mechanisms and uncovers how photobiomodulation can reverse the cognitive impacts of chronic stress by restoring the sirta1 pathway. This pathway is connected to aging and neuronal death, the regulation of negative pyramiding, and the normalization of diversity in the intestine.”The SIRT1 pathway is altered in preclinical models of stress and depression, but the exact mechanisms behind how photobiomodulation works were not clear,” explains Anna Sancho-Balcells, a researcher at UB-UBneuro-CIBERNED and the lead author of the study. “Our research revealed that under chronic stress, the SIRT1 pathway is highly affected in certain brain regions, and photobiomodulation has the ability to restore it.”
Furthermore, the study suggests that photobiomodulation can also induce changes in the intestinal microbiota in the digestive system.
Research shows that dual brain-gut stimulation has superior outcomes compared to treating the gut alone. Professor Xavier Xifró, from the TargetsLab research group at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Girona, explains that the cellular mechanisms associated with this treatment appear to be linked to the improvement of neuroinflammatory processes. The changes observed in the microbiota are strongly associated with changes in neuroinflammation, such as microgliosis and astrogliosis, which occur through the inflammation of specific cells of the nervous system.
Combined photobiomodulation in patients with depression
Photobiomodulation has the potential to be used alongside medication as a possible treatment for major depressive disorders. The team plans to conduct clinical trials to assess the effectiveness of combining photobiomodulation with other treatments for depression in future research.
Researchers believe that photobiomodulation may be especially beneficial for certain types of depression, such as treatment-resistant depression. They also aim to investigate its impact on neuroinflammatory processes, which have shown improvement after photobiomodulation in individuals with treatment-resistant depression.
The research team concludes that neuroinflammation is significantly linked to depression.
