Haridas Devika, Atreya Chintamani D
School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, United States.
Laboratory of Cellular Hematology, Division of Blood Components and Devices, Office of Blood Research and Review, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Bethesda, MD, United States.
Front Med (Lausanne). 2022 Jul 22;9:905606. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.905606. eCollection 2022.
Visible blue light of wavelengths in the 400-470 nm range has been observed to have microbicidal properties. A widely accepted hypothesis for the mechanism of microbial inactivation by visible blue light is that the light causes photoexcitation of either endogenous (present within the microbe) or, exogenous (present in the biological medium surrounding the microbe) photosensitizers such as porphyrins and flavins, which leads to the release of reactive oxygen species that subsequently manifests microbicidal activity. Some of the factors that have been observed to be associated with enhanced microbicidal action include increased duration of exposure, and either pre- or co-treatment with quinine hydrochloride. In case of bacteria, repetitive exposure to the blue light shows no significant evidence of resistance development. Additionally, visible blue light has exhibited the ability to inactivate fungal and viral pathogens and, multidrug-resistant bacteria as well as bacterial biofilms. Visible blue light has demonstrated efficacy in eliminating foodborne pathogens found on food surfaces and exposed surfaces in the food processing environment as well as in the decontamination of surfaces in the clinical environment to minimize the spread of nosocomial infections. We conclude from reviewing existing literature on the application of the blue light in clinical medicine and public health settings that this microbicidal light is emerging as a safer alternative to conventional ultraviolet light-based technologies in multiple settings. However, further comprehensive studies and thorough understanding of the mechanism of microbicidal action of this light in different scenarios is warranted to determine its place in human health and disease.
已观察到波长在400 - 470纳米范围内的可见蓝光具有杀菌特性。关于可见蓝光使微生物失活机制的一个广泛接受的假说是，该光会导致内源性（存在于微生物体内）或外源性（存在于微生物周围的生物介质中）光敏剂（如卟啉和黄素）发生光激发，进而导致活性氧的释放，随后表现出杀菌活性。已观察到与增强杀菌作用相关的一些因素包括暴露时间延长，以及用盐酸奎宁进行预处理或联合处理。就细菌而言，重复暴露于蓝光下未显示出有明显的耐药性发展迹象。此外，可见蓝光已表现出能够使真菌和病毒病原体、多重耐药细菌以及细菌生物膜失活。可见蓝光已证明在消除食品表面以及食品加工环境中暴露表面上发现的食源性病原体方面有效，并且在临床环境中对表面进行去污以尽量减少医院感染的传播方面也有效。我们通过回顾关于蓝光在临床医学和公共卫生环境中应用的现有文献得出结论，这种杀菌光正在成为多种环境中传统紫外线技术的一种更安全的替代方法。然而，有必要进一步进行全面研究并深入了解这种光在不同场景下的杀菌作用机制，以确定其在人类健康和疾病中的地位。
