(Press-News.org) Contact information: Chukuka Enwemeka
enwemeka@uwm.edu
414-229-4712
University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Light as medicine?
UWM researchers help reveal how specific wavelengths of light can heal
	
Multiple sclerosis (MS) causes progressive paralysis by destroying nerve cells and the spinal cord. It interrupts vision, balance and even thinking.
	
On a suggestion from a colleague, Jeri-Anne Lyons decided to test how the disease responded to a radical therapy – exposure to a certain wavelength of light called near-infrared (NIR).
	
"Never in a million years did I think it would help," says Lyons, an associate professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), who studies the role of the immune response in MS.
	
But it did. In rodent models, early MS-like symptoms were treated with exposure to NIR light for a week, alternating with a week of no light. The clinical condition of the mice improved. 
	
Professor Janis Eells, who shared the idea with Lyons, had the same initial reaction after she used NIR therapy on rats to treat blindness caused by poisoning, a condition thought to be permanent. Repeating experiments again and again, she found that certain doses of NIR light allowed lab animals to regain their sight. 
	
Scientists have known for years that certain wavelengths of light in certain doses can heal, but they are only now uncovering exactly how it works, thanks in large part to three UWM faculty researchers, including Chukuka S. Enwemeka, dean of UWM's College of Health Sciences who is internationally known for his work in phototherapy.
	
Enwemeka researches the effects of both NIR and blue light in the visible range on healing wounds. Among his discoveries is that some wavelengths of blue light can clear stubborn infections – even MRSA, the antibiotic-resistant "superbug" form of Staphylococcus aureus.
	
Together, the UWM cluster has found that NIR and blue light repair tissue in dramatically different ways, but both act on the same enzyme in the cell's energy supply center: the mitochondria. 
	
The studies have revealed key information about managing the effects of aging and disease.
	
A bodyguard
So how is light accomplishing such wonders? 
	
In applying NIR light therapy to MS, Lyons has identified the right timing and dose. But she's also dug deeper, analyzing the effect the light had on the activities of the animal's genes. It turns out, molecules that would make the disease worse were weakened after exposure to the light, and the ones responsible for improvement were strengthened. 
	
Eells says NIR light acts on the mitochondria and a particular enzyme, cytochrome C oxidase, to stimulate cell repair. 
	
Light can do all that?
	
"We're not talking about white light [all wavelengths in the visible spectrum combined] as treatment, but only certain wavelengths, at a certain intensity, for a certain amount of time," says Lyons. "Like ingested medication, it's all about the dose."
	
Determining the best wavelength of light for phototherapy is a difficult task. Studies show that 670 nanometer (nm) and 830 nm light are beneficial, but 730 nm is not. The other difficult task is determining the appropriate dose and dose regimen for delivering the light. 
	
Promising leads 
Even more exciting is phototherapy's potential to improve a host of other degenerative diseases. Damaged mitochondria lead to a rise in destructive "free radicals," which play a key role in aging and cancer.
	
"It's why we try to put antioxidants into our diets," says Lyons, "to fight that process."
	
One source of free radicals comes from the inflammation caused by the body's immune response. The researchers have found that after an injury or illness triggers the immune response, NIR light resets the mitochondria so they function normally again.
	
"NIR reduces inflammation," says Eells. "If you can tone down the inflammation in an eye disease like retinitis pigmentosa, you slow the progression of the disease."  
	
A similar observation with inflammation occurred in a study on recalcitrant bedsores, she adds. Wounds treated with phototherapy healed two and a half times more quickly than untreated wounds. 
	
"Chronic non-healing wounds are 'stuck' in the inflammatory phase of wound healing" The light removes that obstacle," says Eells.
	
She has been working with Tim Kern at Case Western Reserve in treating an animal model of diabetic retinopathy with NIR light, which has been shown to slow progression and reduce the severity of the condition.  Kern hopes to initiate a clinical trial in the near future. 
	
A killer
NIR light heals by ensuring that cytochrome oxidase binds with oxygen to turn on protectors and stimulate cell metabolism. Blue light, on the other hand, causes a toxic environment when the immune response has been triggered. That poisonous effect hastens healing of topical wounds by killing bacteria that cause infection.
	
The question is, "What gives light in the longer wavelength its antibiotic effect?" 
	
Enwemeka's studies suggest that blue light also acts on the mitochondrial enzyme site, but allows cytochrome oxidase to bind with nitric oxide, a free radical that is elevated in the immune response. It's a pairing that poisons the invader.
	
This theory is still unproven, but the therapy has achieved undeniable results in the lab with antibiotic-resistant MRSA. Enwemeka demonstrated that one dose of irradiation killed as much as 92 percent of two pervasive strains of MRSA.
	
He is working to improve that success rate by getting the light to penetrate deeper in order to finish off the few colonies that survive irradiation. 
	
Limited availability
Enwemeka is leading a research effort in Brazil and at UWM that he hopes will ultimately lead to clinical use of NIR and blue light in the U.S. for the treatment of wounds.
	
In the six years since he was asked to test the effects of blue light on MRSA, he says, research on the topic has picked up. But currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not sanctioned the use of blue light in treating wounds, or NIR light for conditions other than wounds and pain.
	
With so much success, why isn't phototherapy being used more widely? 
	
"It's considered alternative therapy in Western medicine. It seems too simple for people to accept," says Lyons. 
	
What the FDA is waiting for, says Enwemeka, is confirmation from a large-scale clinical study before approving phototherapy for a wider variety of ailments. It's something Enwemeka and Harry Whelan, a UWM alumnus and physician-researcher at the Medical College of Wisconsin, are determined to accomplish. 
	
"To see people who have not had relief see their wounds heal and not return," says Enwemeka of the Brazilian patients who have benefited from therapy, "is very touching."
INFORMATION:
Additional study: Photobiomodulation Induced by 670 nm Light Ameliorates MOG35-55 Induced EAE in Female C57BL/6 Mice: A Role for Remediation of Nitrosative Stress
KA Muili, S Gopalakrishnan, JT Eells, JA Lyons
PLoS ONE 8(6): e67358. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0067358  [2013]
Light as medicine?
UWM researchers help reveal how specific wavelengths of light can heal
2013-10-22
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Study of decline of malaria in the US could affect approach to malaria epidemic abroad, UT Arlington researcher says
2013-10-22
Study of decline of malaria in the US could affect approach to malaria epidemic abroad, UT Arlington researcher says
Rethinking the 1930s attack on malaria
A new University of Texas at Arlington study about the elimination of malaria in the 1930s American South ...
Time is ripe for fire detection satellite, say UC Berkeley scientists
2013-10-22
Time is ripe for fire detection satellite, say UC Berkeley scientists
Improved and cheaper sensors, faster analysis software make satellite feasible
	As firefighters emerge from another record wildfire season in the Western United States, University ...
Study: Death by moonlight? Not always
2013-10-22
Study: Death by moonlight? Not always
	Is moonlight dangerous? It depends on what you are, according to a study published online recently in the Journal of Animal Ecology.
	"Ecologists have long viewed the darkness of a moonless night as a protective blanket ...
High school student discovers skeleton of baby dinosaur
2013-10-22
High school student discovers skeleton of baby dinosaur
	
  
    
  
  
    
    
    
    
    
  
  
    
    
    
      
       
       
	  
	     VIDEO:
		 This video contains an artist's rendition of the baby Parasaurolophus nicknamed  "Joe. ...
New biomarker may help guide treatment of melanoma patients
2013-10-22
New biomarker may help guide treatment of melanoma patients
	BOSTON — A functional biomarker that can predict whether BRAF-mutant melanomas respond to drugs targeting BRAF could help guide the treatment of patients with these cancers, according ...
Rapid method to detect BRAF mutations in cancer tissue samples
2013-10-22
Rapid method to detect BRAF mutations in cancer tissue samples
	BOSTON — A new diagnostic platform to detect BRAF mutations in melanoma and other cancer types is faster and more accurate compared with the standard method currently used in clinics, ...
Investigational PARP inhibitor promising in BRCA-related cancers
2013-10-22
Investigational PARP inhibitor promising in BRCA-related cancers
	BOSTON — An investigational new PARP inhibitor, BMN 673, is showing early responses in patients with heavily pretreated, advanced, BRCA-related cancers of the breast and ovary, ...
Bio-Rad's Droplet Digital PCR technology highlighted at ASHG Annual Meeting
2013-10-22
Bio-Rad's Droplet Digital PCR technology highlighted at ASHG Annual Meeting
Researchers use Droplet Digital PCR assays to obtain promising results in new copy number variation studies
	Hercules, CA – October 22, 2013 – More accurate and precise assessment of copy number variation ...
Numerical validation of quantum magnetic ordering
2013-10-22
Numerical validation of quantum magnetic ordering
Numerical simulations designed to confirm the magnetic characteristics of 3D quantum materials largely match the theoretical predictions
	A new study set out to use numerical simulations to validate previous theoretical ...
A fresh solution for the lindane problem
2013-10-22
A fresh solution for the lindane problem
The UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country and Tecnalia are seeking fresh solutions by means of iron nanoparticles to eliminate the consequences of lindane manufacture and use.
	For many years two companies located in Bizkaia, ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Synthesis of seven quebracho indole alkaloids using "antenna ligands" in 7-10 steps, including three first-ever asymmetric syntheses
BioOne and Max Planck Society sign 3-year agreement to include subscribe to open pilot
How the arts and science can jointly protect nature
Student's unexpected rise as a researcher leads to critical new insights into HPV
Ominous false alarm in the kidney
MSK Research Highlights, October 31, 2025
Lisbon to host world’s largest conference on ecosystem restoration in 2027, led by researcher from the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon
Electrocatalysis with dual functionality – an overview
Scripps Research awarded $6.9 million by NIH to crack the code of lasting HIV vaccine protection
New post-hoc analysis shows patients whose clinicians had access to GeneSight results for depression treatment are more likely to feel better sooner
First transplant in pigs of modified porcine kidneys with human renal organoids
Reinforcement learning and blockchain: new strategies to secure the Internet of Medical Things
Autograph: A higher-accuracy and faster framework for compute-intensive programs
Expansion microscopy helps chart the planktonic universe
Small bat hunts like lions – only better
As Medicaid work requirements loom, U-M study finds links between coverage, better health and higher employment
Manifestations of structural racism and inequities in cardiovascular health across US neighborhoods
Prescribing trends of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists for type 2 diabetes or obesity
Continuous glucose monitoring frequency and glycemic control in people with type 2 diabetes
Bimodal tactile tomography with bayesian sequential palpation for intracavitary microstructure profiling and segmentation
IEEE study reviews novel photonics breakthroughs of 2024
New method for intentional control of bionic prostheses
Obesity treatment risks becoming a ‘two-tier system’, researchers warn
Researchers discuss gaps, obstacles and solutions for contraception
Disrupted connectivity of the brainstem ascending reticular activating system nuclei-left parahippocampal gyrus could reveal mechanisms of delirium following basal ganglia intracerebral hemorrhage
Federated metadata-constrained iRadonMAP framework with mutual learning for all-in-one computed tomography imaging
‘Frazzled’ fruit flies help unravel how neural circuits stay wired
Improving care for life-threatening blood clots
Yonsei University develops a new era of high-voltage solid-state batteries
Underweight and unbalanced: Gut microbial diversity in underweight Japanese women
[Press-News.org] Light as medicine?UWM researchers help reveal how specific wavelengths of light can heal