Effect of polychromatic polarized light on afferent traffic in skin branches of somatic nerves

Abstract

Short-term irradiation of rat hind limb with polychromatic polarized light at 400-2000 nm produces a long-term inhibition of baseline afferent traffic in n. saphenus, while nonpolarized light produces biphasic changes in baseline activity: transient activation is followed by long-term inhibition of discharges in the nerve. Subcutaneous injection of sodium nitroprusside (10 microg/ml) with subsequent irradiation of the hind limb with polarized light significantly increased afferent activity in the sciatic nerve and n. saphenus, which attests to involvement of nitric oxide in activation of cutaneous nerve terminals during irradiation with polarized light.

Elementary Processes in Cells after Light Absorption Do Not Depend on the Degree of Polarization: Implications for the Mechanisms of Laser Phototherapy

“…Chumak et al 8 found that irradiation of rat hind limb with polychromatic polarized light at 400-2000 nm produced a longterm inhibition of baseline afferent traffic in the saphenous nerve, while nonpolarized light produced biphasic changes in baseline activity. Ribeiro et al 9 investigated the healing of burns in rats by irradiating the lesions with a linearly polarized He-Ne laser beam parallel to the spinal column of the rat, or using the same laser and dose, but aligning the light polarization perpendicularly to the relative orientation of the spinal column.…”