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Effects of photobiomodulation therapy, pharmacological therapy, and physical exercise as single and/or combined treatment on the inflammatory response induced by experimental osteoarthritis

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Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) triggers increased levels of inflammatory markers, including prostaglandin (PG) E2 and proinflammatory cytokines. The elevation of cytokine levels is closely associated with increased articular tissue degeneration. Thus, the use of combination therapies may presumably be able to enhance the effects on the modulation of inflammatory markers. The present study aimed to evaluate and compare the effects of photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT), physical exercise, and topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use on the inflammatory process after they were applied either alone or in different combinations. OA was induced by intra-articular papain injection in the knee of rats. After 21 days, the animals began treatment with a topical NSAID and/or with physical exercise and/or PBMT. Treatments were performed three times a week for eight consecutive weeks, totaling 24 therapy sessions. Analysis of real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) gene expression; interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) protein expression; and PGE2 levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was conducted. Our results showed that PBMT alone and Exerc + PBMT significantly reduced IL-1β gene expression (p < 0.05) while no treatment changed both IL-6 and TNF-α gene expression. Treatment with NSAID alone, PBMT alone, Exerc + PBMT, and NSAID + PBMT reduced IL-1β protein expression (p < 0.05). All therapies significantly reduced IL-6 and TNF-α protein expression (p < 0.05) compared with the OA group. Similarly, all therapies, except Exerc, reduced the levels of PGE2 (p < 0.05) compared with the OA group. The results from the present study indicate that treatment with PBMT is more effective in modulating the inflammatory process underlying OA when compared with the other therapies tested.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo (USP), Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 1524, Butantan, São Paulo, SP, 05508-900, Brazil

    Shaiane Silva Tomazoni, Rodney Capp Pallotta, Simone Teixeira & Patricia de Almeida

  2. Postgraduate Program in Biophotonics Applied to Health Sciences and Post Graduate Program in Rehabilitation Sciences, Nove de Julho University (UNINOVE), São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Ernesto Cesar Pinto Leal-Junior

  3. Biomedical Engineering Research and Post-Graduate Center, Mogi das Cruzes University (UMC), Mogi das Cruzes, SP, Brazil

    Rodrigo Álvaro Brandão Lopes-Martins

Authors
  1. Shaiane Silva Tomazoni
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  2. Ernesto Cesar Pinto Leal-Junior
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  3. Rodney Capp Pallotta
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  4. Simone Teixeira
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  5. Patricia de Almeida
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  6. Rodrigo Álvaro Brandão Lopes-Martins
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shaiane Silva Tomazoni.

Ethics declarations

Experimental protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee for Animal Experimentation (number 077, page 130, book 02) of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo (ICB-USP).

Funding

Shaiane Silva Tomazoni would like to thank Sao Paulo Research Foundation—FAPESP for PhD scholarship (grant number 2011/18785-9). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests

Professor Ernesto Cesar Pinto Leal-Junior receives research support from Multi Radiance Medical (Solon, OH, USA), a laser device manufacturer. Multi Radiance Medical had no role in the planning of this study, and the laser device used was not theirs. They had no influence on study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The remaining authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Tomazoni, S.S., Leal-Junior, E.C.P., Pallotta, R.C. et al. Effects of photobiomodulation therapy, pharmacological therapy, and physical exercise as single and/or combined treatment on the inflammatory response induced by experimental osteoarthritis. Lasers Med Sci 32, 101–108 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-016-2091-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-016-2091-8

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