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Time response of increases in ATP and muscle resistance to fatigue after low-level laser (light) therapy (LLLT) in mice

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Abstract

Recently, low-level laser (light) therapy has been used to increase muscle performance in intense exercises. However, there is a lack of understanding of the time response of muscles to light therapy. The first purpose of this study was to determine the time response for light-emitting diode therapy (LEDT)-mediated increase in adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in the soleus and gastrocnemius muscles in mice. Second purpose was to test whether LEDT can increase the resistance of muscles to fatigue during intense exercise. Fifty male Balb/c mice were randomly allocated into two equal groups: LEDT-ATP and LEDT-fatigue. Both groups were subdivided into five equal subgroups: LEDT-sham, LEDT-5 min, LEDT-3 h, LEDT-6 h, and LEDT-24 h. Each subgroup was analyzed for muscle ATP content or fatigue at specified time after LEDT. The fatigue test was performed by mice repeatedly climbing an inclined ladder bearing a load of 150 % of body weight until exhaustion. LEDT used a cluster of LEDs with 20 red (630 ± 10 nm, 25 mW) and 20 infrared (850 ± 20 nm, 50 mW) delivering 80 mW/cm2 for 90 s (7.2 J/cm2) applied to legs, gluteus, and lower back muscles. LEDT-6 h was the subgroup with the highest ATP content in soleus and gastrocnemius compared to all subgroups (P < 0.001). In addition, mice in LEDT-6 h group performed more repetitions in the fatigue test (P < 0.001) compared to all subgroups: LEDT-sham and LEDT-5 min (~600 %), LEDT-3 h (~200 %), and LEDT-24 h (~300 %). A high correlation between the fatigue test repetitions and the ATP content in soleus (r = 0.84) and gastrocnemius (r = 0.94) muscles was observed. LEDT increased ATP content in muscles and fatigue resistance in mice with a peak at 6 h. Although the time response in mice and humans is not the same, athletes might consider applying LEDT at 6 h before competition.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Andrea L. Brissette for your assistance with multiple roles including purchase of reagents. Cleber Ferraresi would like to thank FAPESP for his PhD scholarships (numbers 2010/07194-7 and 2012/05919-0). Michael R. Hamblin was supported by US NIH grant R01AI050875.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Electrothermophototherapy, Department of Physical Therapy, Federal University of São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil

    Cleber Ferraresi & Nivaldo Antonio Parizotto

  2. Post-Graduation Program in Biotechnology, Federal University of Sao Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil

    Cleber Ferraresi & Nivaldo Antonio Parizotto

  3. Physics Institute of Sao Carlos, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Carlos, Brazil

    Cleber Ferraresi & Vanderlei Salvador Bagnato

  4. Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, 40 Blossom Street, Boston, MA, USA

    Cleber Ferraresi, Marcelo Victor Pires de Sousa, Ying-Ying Huang & Michael R. Hamblin

  5. Laboratory of Radiation Dosimetry and Medical Physics, Institute of Physics, Sao Paulo University, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Marcelo Victor Pires de Sousa

  6. Department of Dermatology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Ying-Ying Huang & Michael R. Hamblin

  7. Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Michael R. Hamblin

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  1. Cleber Ferraresi
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  2. Marcelo Victor Pires de Sousa
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  3. Ying-Ying Huang
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  4. Vanderlei Salvador Bagnato
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  5. Nivaldo Antonio Parizotto
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  6. Michael R. Hamblin
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Correspondence to Michael R. Hamblin.

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Ferraresi, C., de Sousa, M.V.P., Huang, YY. et al. Time response of increases in ATP and muscle resistance to fatigue after low-level laser (light) therapy (LLLT) in mice. Lasers Med Sci 30, 1259–1267 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-015-1723-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-015-1723-8

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