TY - JOUR
T1 - Transcranial Laser Therapy Does Not Improve Cognitive and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder-Related Behavioral Traits in Rats Exposed to Repetitive Low-Level Blast Injury
AU - Garcia, Georgina Perez
AU - Perez, Gissel M.
AU - Otero-Pagan, Alena
AU - Abutarboush, Rania
AU - Kawoos, Usmah
AU - De Gasperi, Rita
AU - Gama Sosa, Miguel A.
AU - Pryor, Dylan
AU - Hof, Patrick R.
AU - Cook, David G.
AU - Gandy, Sam
AU - Ahlers, Stephen T.
AU - Elder, Gregory A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Georgina Perez Garcia et al., 2021; Published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2021.
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - Many military veterans who experienced blast-related traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from chronic cognitive and mental health problems, including post-Traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Transcranial laser therapy (TLT) uses low-power lasers emitting light in the far-to near-infrared ranges. Beneficial effects of TLT have been reported in neurological and mental-health-related disorders in humans and animal models, including TBI. Rats exposed to repetitive low-level blast develop chronic cognitive and PTSD-related behavioral traits. We tested whether TLT treatment could reverse these traits. Rats received a 74.5-kPa blast or sham exposures delivered one per day for 3 consecutive days. Beginning at 34 weeks after blast exposure, the following groups of rats were treated with active or sham TLT: 1) Sham-exposed rats (n = 12) were treated with sham TLT; 2) blast-exposed rats (n = 13) were treated with sham TLT; and 3) blast-exposed rats (n = 14) were treated with active TLT. Rats received 5 min of TLT five times per week for 6 weeks (wavelength, 808 nm; power of irradiance, 240 mW). At the end of treatment, rats were tested in tasks found previously to be most informative (novel object recognition, novel object localization, contextual/cued fear conditioning, elevated zero maze, and light/dark emergence). TLT did not improve blast-related effects in any of these tests, and blast-exposed rats were worse after TLT in some anxiety-related measures. Based on these findings, TLT does not appear to be a promising treatment for the chronic cognitive and mental health problems that follow blast injury.
AB - Many military veterans who experienced blast-related traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from chronic cognitive and mental health problems, including post-Traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Transcranial laser therapy (TLT) uses low-power lasers emitting light in the far-to near-infrared ranges. Beneficial effects of TLT have been reported in neurological and mental-health-related disorders in humans and animal models, including TBI. Rats exposed to repetitive low-level blast develop chronic cognitive and PTSD-related behavioral traits. We tested whether TLT treatment could reverse these traits. Rats received a 74.5-kPa blast or sham exposures delivered one per day for 3 consecutive days. Beginning at 34 weeks after blast exposure, the following groups of rats were treated with active or sham TLT: 1) Sham-exposed rats (n = 12) were treated with sham TLT; 2) blast-exposed rats (n = 13) were treated with sham TLT; and 3) blast-exposed rats (n = 14) were treated with active TLT. Rats received 5 min of TLT five times per week for 6 weeks (wavelength, 808 nm; power of irradiance, 240 mW). At the end of treatment, rats were tested in tasks found previously to be most informative (novel object recognition, novel object localization, contextual/cued fear conditioning, elevated zero maze, and light/dark emergence). TLT did not improve blast-related effects in any of these tests, and blast-exposed rats were worse after TLT in some anxiety-related measures. Based on these findings, TLT does not appear to be a promising treatment for the chronic cognitive and mental health problems that follow blast injury.
KW - blast
KW - post-Traumatic stress disorder
KW - rat
KW - transcranial laser therapy
KW - traumatic brain injury
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85165270674&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1089/neur.2021.0005
DO - 10.1089/neur.2021.0005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85165270674
SN - 2689-288X
VL - 2
SP - 548
EP - 563
JO - Neurotrauma Reports
JF - Neurotrauma Reports
IS - 1
ER -