Potential targets and mechanisms of photobiomodulation for spinal cord injury

Neural Regeneration Research, 2023 · DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/1673-5374.361534 · Published: November 25, 2022

Spinal Cord Injury Genetics Rehabilitation

Simple Explanation

Spinal cord injury (SCI) can be caused by external factors and often leads to the loss of motor, sensory, and autonomic nervous function. Bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) aggravate the inflammatory response, promotes neuronal apoptosis, and worsens the progression of SCI. Photobiomodulation (PBM), also known as low-level laser therapy, is a widely used noninvasive physiotherapy with minimal side effects that reduces inflammation, repairs scars, and promotes bone repair. PBM has been reported to have a good repair function for SCI. This study used transcriptome sequencing to investigate the differential gene expression profile and possible signaling pathways by which PBM regulates M1 macrophage polarization to promote SCI repair, which will help explain the possible mechanism of PBM.

Study Duration

28 days

Participants

80 male C57BL/6 mice (69 survived)

Evidence Level

Not specified

Key Findings

1
Photobiomodulation inhibited STAT3 expression through increasing the expression of miR-330-5p, and that miR-330-5p binding to STAT3 inhibited STAT3 expression.
2
Inducible nitric oxide synthase showed trends in changes similar to the changes in STAT3 expression.
3
Photobiomodulation reduced inducible nitric oxide synthase and STAT3 expression and promoted motor function recovery in spinal cord injury mice.

Research Summary

This study investigated the potential targets and mechanisms of photobiomodulation (PBM) for spinal cord injury (SCI) repair by analyzing the differential gene expression profile of PBM regulating macrophage polarization using transcriptome sequencing. The results showed that PBM inhibited STAT3 expression through increasing the expression of miR-330-5p, and miR-330-5p binding to STAT3 inhibited STAT3 expression. Inducible nitric oxide synthase showed similar trends. In a mouse model of SCI, PBM reduced inducible nitric oxide synthase and STAT3 expression and promoted motor function recovery, suggesting that STAT3 may be a potential target of PBM and the miR-330-5p/STAT3 pathway is a possible mechanism.

Practical Implications

Therapeutic Target Identification

STAT3 is identified as a potential therapeutic target for photobiomodulation in treating spinal cord injury.

Mechanistic Pathway Elucidation

The miR-330-5p/STAT3 pathway is highlighted as a key mechanism by which photobiomodulation exerts its biological effects.

Clinical Application Support

The study provides theoretical support for the clinical application of photobiomodulation in treating spinal cord injury.

Study Limitations

1
Bioinformatics analysis was performed only at the cellular level, which may differ from the tissue level.
2
At the animal level, only a preliminary observation of the phenotype was made, and the mechanism has not been fully explained.
3
Further studies are needed to perform tissue-level transcriptome sequencing and combined analysis with cellular-level transcriptome sequencing.

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