Iron deficiency impairs the formation of hemoglobin, red blood cells, as well the transport of oxygen. The wound healing process involves numerous functions, many of which are dependent on the presence of oxygen. Laser has been shown to improve angiogenesis, increases blood supply, cell proliferation and function. We aimed to study the effect of λ660 nm laser and λ700 nm light-emitting diode (LED) on fibroblastic proliferation on cutaneous wounds on iron-deficient rodents. Induction of iron anemia was carried out by feeding 105 newborn rats with a special iron-free diet. A 1 × 1 cm wound was created on the dorsum of each animal that were randomly distributed into seven groups: I, control anemic; II, anemic no treatment; III, anemic+L; IV, anemic+LED; V, healthy no treatment; VI, healthy+laser; VII, healthy+LED (n=15 each). Phototherapy was carried out using either a diode laser (λ660 nm, 40 mW, 10 J/cm(2)) or a prototype LED device (λ700 ± 20 nm, 15 mW, 10 J/cm(2)). Treatment started immediately after surgery and was repeated at 48-h interval during 7, 14, and 21 days. After animal death, specimens were taken, routinely processed, cut, stained with hematoxylin-eosin, and underwent histological analysis and fibroblast counting. Significant difference between healthy and anemic subjects on regards the number of fibroblast between treatments was seen (p<0.008, p<0.001). On healthy animals, significant higher count was seen when laser was used (p<0.008). Anemic subjects irradiated with LED showed significantly higher count (p<0.001). It is concluded that the use of LED light caused a significant positive biomodulation of fibroblastic proliferation on anemic animals and laser was more effective on increasing proliferation on non-anemics.

This work aimed to study histologically the effect of Laser or LED phototherapy on mast cells on cutaneous wounds of rats with iron deficiency. 18 rats were used and fed with special peleted iron-free diet. An excisional wound was created on the dorsum of each animal which were divided into: Group I -Control with anemia + no treatment; Group IIAnemia + Laser; Group III -Anemia + LED; Group IV -Healthy + no treatment; Group V -Healthy + Laser; Group VI -Healthy + LED. Irradiation was performed using a diode Laser (λ660nm, 40mW, CW, total dose of 10J/cm 2 , 4X2.5J/cm 2 ) or a RED-LED ( λ700nm, 15mW, CW, total dose of 10J/cm 2 ). Histological specimens were routinely processed, cut and stained with toluidine blue and mast cell counts performed. No significant statistic difference was found between groups as to the number of degranulated, non-degradulated or total mast cells. Greater mean values were found for degranulated mast cells in the Anemia + LED. LED irradiation on healthy specimens resulted in a smaller number of degranulated mast cells. Our results leads to conclude that there are no significant differences in the number of mast cells seven days after irradiation following Laser or LED phototherapy.