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Antidepressant and antioxidant effects of transcranial irradiation with 830-nm low-power laser in an animal model of depression

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Abstract

The present study aimed at investigating the antidepressant and antioxidant actions of near-infrared (NIR) laser at a wavelength of 830 nm and power of 100 mW which applied transcranially on an animal model of depression induced by repeated doses of reserpine (0.2 mg/kg). Thirty male Wistar adult rats were divided into three groups: rat model of depression; rat model of depression irradiated with laser for 14 days after induction of depression; and the control group that was given the drug vehicle and sham-exposed to the laser. Forced swimming test (FST) was used to verify the induction of animal model of depression and to screen the effect of antidepressant effect of low-level laser at the end of the experiment. Monoamine level, oxidative stress markers, and activities of acetylcholinesterase (AchE) and monoamine oxidase (MAO) were determined in the cortex and hippocampus of the rat brain. Reserpine resulted in depletion of monoamines and elevation in the oxidative stress markers and change in the enzymatic activities measured in both brain areas. Laser irradiation has an inhibitory action on the monoamine oxidase (MAO) in the cortex and hippocampus leading to elevation of the monoamine levels and attenuation of the oxidative stress in the studied areas. FST has emphasized the antidepressant effect of the utilized laser irradiation parameters on the behavioral level. The present findings provide evidence for the antidepressant and antioxidant actions of NIR low-power laser in the rat model of depression. Accordingly, low-laser irradiation may be presented as a potential candidate modality for depression treatment.

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Data availability

The data used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Eman Hosny for their help during the sample preparation and measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biophysics Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

    Haitham S. Mohammed

  2. Medical Physiology Department, National Research Center, Giza, Egypt

    Yasser A. Khadrawy

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  1. Haitham S. Mohammed
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  2. Yasser A. Khadrawy
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Contributions

Haitham Mohammed: conception, design and acquisition, and analysis of data, and doing experiments and writing the manuscript. Yasser Khadrawy: design and analysis of the data, doing the experiments, and revising the manuscript. The authors have revised and approved the submitted version of the article.

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Correspondence to Haitham S. Mohammed.

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All experimental procedures were following the international standards for animal ethics and care and were approved by the local committee of animal care and use with the approval number (F/46/19).

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Mohammed, H.S., Khadrawy, Y.A. Antidepressant and antioxidant effects of transcranial irradiation with 830-nm low-power laser in an animal model of depression. Lasers Med Sci 37, 1615–1623 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-021-03410-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-021-03410-1

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