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Effects of light emitting diode (LED) therapy and cold water immersion therapy on exercise-induced muscle damage in rats

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Abstract

The aim of this work is to analyze the effects of LED therapy at 940 nm or cold water immersion therapy (CWI) after an acute bout of exercise on markers of muscle damage and inflammation. Thirty-two male Wistar rats were allocated into four groups: animals kept at rest (control), exercised animals (E), exercised + CWI (CWI), and exercised + LED therapy (LED). The animals swam for 100 min, after which blood samples were collected for lactate analysis. Animals in the E group were returned to their cages without treatment, the CWI group was placed in cold water (10°C) for 10 min and the LED group received LED irradiation on both gastrocnemius muscles (4 J/cm2 each). After 24 h, the animals were killed and the soleus muscles were submitted to histological analysis. Blood samples were used for hematological and CK analyses. The results demonstrated that the LED group presented fewer areas of muscle damage and inflammatory cell infiltration and lower levels of CK activity than the E group. Fewer areas of damaged muscle fiber were observed in the LED group than in CWI. CWI and LED did not reduce edema areas. Hematological analysis showed no significant effect of either treatment on leukocyte counts. The results suggest that LED therapy is more efficient than CWI in preventing muscle damage and local inflammation after exercise.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Total Vet Londrina-PR, Vibac do Brasil and Biotecnica (Varginha, Brasil) for donating anesthetics and laboratory reagents. The authors also thank William Hanes (Translingual Comunicações-Brasil).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiotherapy, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Londrina, PR, Brazil

    Mariana Zingari Camargo & Cláudia Patrícia Cardoso Martins Siqueira

  2. Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Londrina, PR, Brazil

    Maria Carla Perozim Preti

  3. Department of Physical Education, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Londrina, PR, Brazil

    Fábio Yuzo Nakamura

  4. Department of Physics, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Londrina, PR, Brazil

    Franciele Mendes de Lima, Ivan Frederico Lupiano Dias & Dari de Oliveira Toginho Filho

  5. Departamento de Histologia, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Rodovia Celso Garcia Cid PR 445 Km 380, CEP 86051-990, Londrina, PR, Brazil

    Solange de Paula Ramos

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  1. Mariana Zingari Camargo
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Camargo, M.Z., Siqueira, C.P.C.M., Preti, M.C.P. et al. Effects of light emitting diode (LED) therapy and cold water immersion therapy on exercise-induced muscle damage in rats. Lasers Med Sci 27, 1051–1058 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-011-1039-2

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