Red and near infrared lights – can they help degenerative neurological diseases?
Prof John is professor of anatomy at Sydney University and a world leader in research into the effects of red and near infrared light in Parkinson’s Disease.
Don’t discount the indirect effect of red and near infrared light.
I’ve had a number of queries lately about the importance of penetration of red and near infrared light into the brain. The questions stem from an assumption that red and near lights will only be effective if they act directly onto the cell. This assumption isn’t correct. Red light doesn’t rely on just one method to be effective.
Continue reading “Red light’s many ways of working”Here’s a new journal article from the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. I’m a co-author, but don’t let that get in the way.
This article looks at the animal and clinical evidence for the use of transcranial and intracranial red and near infrared light devices. There is a lot of detailed information, including and in-depth description of the effect of transcranial red and near infrared lights in people with Parkinson’s disease.
As for which is best – intracranial or transcranial? The verdict is that neither is best on its own. The best is having both working together. It makes sense, having light shining from inside and outside the brain.
Alas, you might be waiting a while before you get access to an intracranial light implant (think DBS with a 670nm LED light), but you can use transcranial lights right now. You can make your own (instructions are here) or look at the Duo Coronet (link is here) .
Meanwhile, have a read…
Reference
Johnstone DM, Hamilton C, Gordon LC, Moro C, Torres N, Nicklason F, Stone J, Benabid AL, Mitrofanis J. Exploring the Use of Intracranial and Extracranial (Remote) Photobiomodulation Devices in Parkinson’s Disease: A Comparison of Direct and Indirect Systemic Stimulations. J Alzheimers Dis. 2021;83(4):1399-1413. doi: 10.3233/JAD-210052. PMID: 33843683.
The previous blog looked at a journal article entitled: Effects of exercise on sleep in neurodegenerative disease, and focussed on its comments about sleep, exercise and Parkinson’s disease. This post looks at what the article has to say about exercise, sleep and Alzheimer’s disease.
Continue reading “Exercise and sleep in Alzheimer’s”In the last blog post, I told you about an excellent article called How and why does photobiomodulation change brain activity.
An ardent reader would know that I tend to wax lyrical about the way that red and near infrared light works directly and indirectly on the cell batteries, the mitochondria. The mitochondria contain special proteins that are able to respond to the light pulse. Some of these proteins are quite famous, like cytochrome c oxidase, which has been well studied and probably has its own fan club.
But guess what. Even if there is no cytochrome c oxidase present, mitochondria still respond to light.
Continue reading “Water and light…”I’ve been reading a journal article by Professors John Mitrofanis and Luke Henderson of the University of Sydney.
The title says it all: How and why does photobiomodulation change brain activity?
Continue reading “The Brain Orchestra”Hot off the press is a peer-reviewed journal article describing the observations of people with Parkinson’s disease using transcranial red and near infrared light hats on a daily basis.
The title of the article is a hoot: The “Buckets”: Early Observations on the Use of Red and Infrared Light Helmets in Parkinson’s Disease Patients.
The authors are: Catherine L. Hamilton, Hala El Khoury, David Hamilton, Frank Nicklason, and John Mitrofanis.
The article is published in: Photobiomodulation, Photomedicine, and Laser Surgery.http://doi.org/10.1089/photob.2019.4663
Here is a link to the abstract, or you can download the full article.
Red lights on the brain 