EFFECT OF HELIUM-NEON LASER ON CULTURED HUMAN MACROPHAGES

抄録

Low incident doses of Helium-Neon (HeNe) laser therapy are routinely used in our institute as an adjunct to chemotherapy for treating cases of tuberculosis. Although the mechanism of the action of laser therapy in the treatment of this pathology is not completely clear, macrophage cells are however recognized as the key cells in treating the pathology of tuberculosis. The present study was thus designed to see the in vitro effect of laser over the macrophages. The macrophages were isolated from five healthy volunteers and five pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) cases and cultured in microwells. The macrophages in multiple wells irradiated on third, fifth and seventh day with HeNe laser (wavelength of 632.8 nm and an output power of 3 mW ) for 10, 5 and 2 mins. The cell counts carried out on the tenth day showed that the irradiated wells had increased cell proliferation ( p < 0.01 ) than the non-irradiated wells for all exposure times, and it was optimal for the wells exposed for 5 min. Microscopic examination revealed increased cell size, with a larger nucleus and RNA content. The release of TNF- α, and granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) were greater for the wells exposed to the laser. The results were similar for the macrophages from the healthy volunteers and the tuberculosis cases. Thus, the findings suggest that laser irradiation activates macrophages from healthy subjects as well as from patients suffering from PTB.