International Journal of Photoenergy

Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 352582, 1 page

doi:10.1155/2012/352582

Editorial

Photobiomodulation

Timon Cheng-Yi Liu,¹ Rui Duan,² and Lutz Wilden³

¹Laboratory of Laser Sports Medicine, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China

²Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA

³Privatpraxis für Hochdosierte Low Level Lasertherapie, Wilden, L. Kuralle 16, 94072 Bad Füssing, Germany

Received 5 August 2012; Accepted 5 August 2012

Copyright © 2012 Timon Cheng-Yi Liu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Traditionally, lasers have been utilized in many aspects of medicine, such as surgery, cancer treatment, and cosmetic applications. The laser irradiation that was commonly used in cosmetic surgery or cancer therapy is high intensity laser irradiation which can cut through the human bodies and burn the tissues. Except this well-known high intensity laser therapy, there is another type of laser therapy, photobiomodulation (PBM), in which a low level/intensity/power laser irradiation or monochromatic light is used to modulate biological functions without irreversible damage. It has been widely used to reduce pain and inflammation, accelerate wound healing and hair growth, prevent cell death and tissue damage, and improve blood circulation since the invention of lasers in the 1960s. Currently, PBM is not only used to treat diseases, but also used to promote health.

Despite many laboratory experiments and clinical trials, the cellular and molecular mechanisms of PBM continue to be elusive. In this special edition, we present peer-reviewed up-to-date studies which focused on the mechanisms of PBM and its clinical applications.

The original research articles covered many aspects of PBM, from basic biomedical research to clinic applications, from in vitro cell-based studies to in vivo human tissues. In the two review papers, the authors proposed an interesting theory of PBM based on the function-specific homeostasis, which is a negative feedback response for a function to be perfectly performed. Besides the studies on PBM, we also selected several papers on photodynamic therapy and laser surgery in the current issue.

We highly appreciate the quality, originality, and novelty of the studies submitted to this special issue, and we welcome the proposal of the journal to publish a second special issue dedicated to the field of PBM in the near future.

Timon Cheng-Yi Liu

Rui Duan

Lutz Wilden