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Safety assessment of trans-tympanic photobiomodulation

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Abstract

We evaluated functional and morphological changes after trans-tympanic laser application using several different powers of photobiomodulation (PBM). The left (L) ears of 17 rats were irradiated for 30 min daily over 14 days using a power density of 909.1 (group A, 5040 J), 1136.4 (group B, 6300 J), and 1363.6 (group C, 7560 J) mW/cm2. The right (N) ears served as controls. The safety of PBM was determined by endoscopic findings, auditory brainstem response (ABR) thresholds, and histological images of hair cells using confocal microscopy, and light microscopic images of the external auditory canal (EAC) and tympanic membrane (TM). Endoscopic findings revealed severe inflammation in the TM of C group; no other group showed damage in the TM. No significant difference in ABR threshold was found in the PBM-treated groups (excluding the group with TM damage). Confocal microscopy showed no histological difference between the AL and AN, or BL and BN groups. However, light microscopy showed more prominent edema, inflammation, and vascular congestion in the TM of BL ears. This study found a dose-response relationship between laser power parameters and TM changes. These results will be useful for defining future allowance criteria for trans-tympanic laser therapies.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) and the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (NRF-2014M3A9E5073705 and NRF-2010-0024301).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Cheong-Ju Saint Mary’s Hospital, Cheong-Ju, South Korea

      Tae-Hyun Moon & Yoon-Hwan Kim

    2. Department of Medical Laser Graduate School of Medicine, Dankook University, Juk-Jeon, South Korea

      Tae-Hyun Moon & Min Young Lee

    3. KRESGE Hearing Research Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

      Min Young Lee

    4. Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, South Korea

      Jae Yun Jung, Phil-Sang Chung & Chung-Ku Rhee

    5. Beckman Laser Institute-Korea, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, South Korea

      Jin-Chul Ahn, So-Young Chang & Phil-Sang Chung

    6. Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, 110-744, South Korea

      Myung-Whan Suh

    7. Department of Biomedical Science, Biomedical Translational Research Institute, Dankook University, Cheonan, Chungnam, South Korea

      Jin-Chul Ahn

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    Correspondence to Myung-Whan Suh.

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    All animals were treated in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, which was formulated by the Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources of the Commission on Life Sciences.

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    Tae-Hyun Moon and Min Young Lee contributed equally to this work.

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    Moon, TH., Lee, M.Y., Jung, J.Y. et al. Safety assessment of trans-tympanic photobiomodulation. Lasers Med Sci 31, 323–333 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-015-1851-1

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