Hamblin Michael R
Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Department of Dermatology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Photonics. 2019 Sep;6(3). doi: 10.3390/photonics6030077. Epub 2019 Jul 4.
Next to cancer, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia is probably the most worrying health problem facing the Western world today. A large number of clinical trials have failed to show any benefit of the tested drugs in stabilizing or reversing the steady decline in cognitive function that is suffered by dementia patients. Although the pathological features of AD consisting of beta-amyloid plaques and tau tangles are well established, considerable debate exists concerning the genetic or lifestyle factors that predispose individuals to developing dementia. Photobiomodulation (PBM) describes the therapeutic use of red or near-infrared light to stimulate healing, relieve pain and inflammation, and prevent tissue from dying. In recent years PBM has been applied for a diverse range of brain disorders, frequently applied in a non-invasive manner by shining light on the head (transcranial PBM). The present review discusses the mechanisms of action of tPBM in the brain, and summarizes studies that have used tPBM to treat animal models of AD. The results of a limited number of clinical trials that have used tPBM to treat patients with AD and dementia are discussed.
仅次于癌症，阿尔茨海默病（AD）和痴呆症可能是当今西方世界面临的最令人担忧的健康问题。大量临床试验未能证明受试药物在稳定或逆转痴呆症患者认知功能持续下降方面有任何益处。尽管由β-淀粉样蛋白斑块和tau缠结构成的AD病理特征已得到充分证实，但关于使个体易患痴呆症的遗传或生活方式因素仍存在相当大的争议。光生物调节（PBM）描述了利用红光或近红外光进行治疗以促进愈合、缓解疼痛和炎症以及防止组织死亡。近年来，PBM已应用于多种脑部疾病，通常通过照射头部以非侵入性方式应用（经颅PBM）。本综述讨论了经颅PBM在大脑中的作用机制，并总结了使用经颅PBM治疗AD动物模型的研究。还讨论了少数使用经颅PBM治疗AD和痴呆症患者的临床试验结果。
