抄録
[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of low intensity laser therapy (LILT) on inflammatory osteoarthritis in the knee joint of rats. [Subjects] Thirty Sprague–Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 groups with 10 rats each: the normal, control, and LILT groups. The arthritis group was treated with LILT using a gallium–aluminum–arsenide diode laser over during 3 weeks. All treatments were applied once a day, 5 days per week for 21 days. The inflammation cytokine and the articular index were used to assess the arthritic symptoms. The levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, and IL-6 in the serum were used as outcome measures. [Results] The arthritis index points of rats in the LILT group were lower than that of the control group. Similarly, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 concentrations in serum were significantly decreased in the LILT group compared to the control group, which coincided with behavioral studies. [Conclusion] This study shows that LILT is capable of reducing inflammatory cytokine concentrations induced by monosodium iodoacetate osteoarthritis in rats.
