Abstract

Phototherapy is able to modulate cellular metabolism of bone tissue and consequently accelerate the repair. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of this therapy in repair of bone monocortical defects in femurs of thirty male Wistar rats. The animals were divided into six groups (five animals for group), including three controls and three irradiated groups with different experimental times (14, 21, and 28 days after surgery). LED was used for the irradiation, emitting non-coherent light in the spectral range of 945±20 nm and output power of 48 mW, on one point of irradiation for four minutes. Seven treatment sessions were performed with 48 hours between sessions. For analysis on the bone repair, qualitative and quantitative assessments of Ca and P contents were done by micro x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (μXRF) and the morphological structure was carried out using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The results showed the efficiency of infrared LED therapy, because the amount of mineral components analyzed by μXRF and the morphological features of cortical and trabecular bones, demonstrated by the SEM images, showed enhanced bone repair in the irradiated groups when compared to their corresponding control groups at all stages.

© 2011 OSA/SPIE