white paper

Microbiome Changes in Humans with Parkinson’s Disease after Photobiomodulation Therapy: A Retrospective Study

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By Brian Bicknell, Ann Liebert | January 5, 2022

There is a paucity of information on the effect of photobiomodulation therapy on gut micro-biome composition. Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurological disorder with few management options, although the gut microbiome has been suggested as a potential avenue of treatment. We retrospectively analysed the microbiome from human stool samples from a previously published study, which had demonstrated the efficacy of photobiomodulation to treat Parkinson’s patients’ symptoms. Specifically, we have observed changes in the microbiome of Parkinson’s patients after a 12-week treatment regimen with photobiomodulation to the abdomen, neck, head and nose. Noted were positive changes in the Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes (F:B) ratio, which is often interpreted as a proxy for gut health.

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white paper

Case Studies Documenting the Interaction of Antibiotics, Photobiomodulation and Parkinson’s Disease

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By Brian Bicknell, Ann Liebert | October 22, 2024

Photobiomodulation is the use of non-thermal light of particular wavelengths to bring about changes to the metabolism of cells and mitochondria
  • Used for over 50 years clinically and in research
  • Good pre-clinical evidence for a positive effect on the signs associated with PD1
  • There are limited clinical trials2,3, with one assessing microbiome changes4

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white paper

Five-Year Changes in MDS-UPDRS-III After Light Treatment (Photobiomodulation)

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By  Ann Liebert, Geoffrey Herkes… | October 22, 2024

Photobiomodulation is the use of non-thermal light of particular wavelengths to bring about changes to the metabolism of cells and mitochondria.
  • Used for over 50 years clinically and in research.
  • Effective for wound healing, tissue repair, pain management, reducing inflammation and, recently, neurodegenerative disease.

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white paper

Parkinson’s Disease and Photobiomodulation: Potential for Treatment

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By Brian Bicknell, Ann Liebert, and Geoffrey Herkes |mdpi.com | January 19, 2024

Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease and is increasingin incidence. The combination of motor and non-motor symptoms makes this a devastating disease for people with Parkinson’s disease and their care givers. Parkinson’s disease is characterised by mitochondrial dysfunction and neuronal death in the substantia nigra, a reduction in dopamine, accumulation of α-synuclein aggregates and neuroinflammation.

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white paper

A novel transcranial photobiomodulation device to address motor signs of Parkinson’s disease: a parallel randomised feasibility study

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By Geoffrey Herkes |Thelancet.com | November 30, 2023

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurological disease with limited treatment options. Animal models and a proof-of-concept case series have suggested that photobiomodulation may be an effective adjunct treatment for the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The aim was to determine the safety and feasibility of transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) to reduce the motor signs of Parkinson’s disease.

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white paper

Transcranial Photobiomodulation Helmet treating Parkinson’s Disease

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April 13, 2023

Abstract:
Emerging evidence is increasingly supporting the use of transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) to improve symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease (PD). The objective of this study was to analyse the safety and efficacy of tPBM for PD motor symptoms. The study was a triple blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial with 40 idiopathic PD patients receiving either active tPBM (635 nm plus 810 nm LEDs) or sham tPBM for 24 min per day (56.88J), six days per week, for 12 weeks. The primary outcome measures were treatment safety and a 37-item MDS-UPDRS-III (motor domain) assessed at baseline and 12 weeks. Individual MDS-UPDRS-III items were clustered into sub-score domains (facial, upper-limb, lower-limb, gait, and tremor). The treatment produced no safety concerns or adverse events, apart from occasional temporary and minor dizziness. There was no significant difference in total MDS-UPDRS-III scores between groups, presumably due to the placebo effect. Additional analyses demonstrated that facial and lower-limb sub-scores significantly improved with active treatment, while gait and lower-limb sub-scores significantly improved with sham treatment. Approximately 70% of participants responded to active treatment (≥5 decrease in MDS-UPDRS-III score) and improved in all sub-scores, while sham responders improved in lower-limb sub-scores only. tPBM appears to be a safe treatment and improved several PD motor symptoms in patients that responded to treatment. tPBM is proving to be increasingly attractive as a possible non-pharmaceutical adjunct therapy.

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white paper

Emerging evidence is increasingly supporting the use of transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) to improve symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease (PD)

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ABSTRACT: The main objective of this literature review was to analyze the efficacy of (PBM) therapy application on subjects with chronic pain and inflammation, and furthermore, to evaluate the methodological quality of the collected literature. The search was conducted using five databases: PubMed, ProQuest, Scopus, Web of Science, and PEDro. The keywords “low level laser therapy”, “chronic pain”, and “inflammation” provided the selection of RCTs that were published within the last 5 years, conducted in humans, and written in English. The PEDro Internal Validity Scale (IVS) checklist was used to evaluate the risk of bias in the included studies. A total of 11 articles were selected, all of them RCTs. Of the articles, five showed that PBM positively influences chronic pain, while another showed the same but only in the short term. In two other articles, the patient’s inflammation improved markedly. In one article there was no improvement in chronic pain and in another, there was no improvement in inflammation. Four articles demonstrated that PBM is beneficial in acute pain. Furthermore, six studies were given an “excellent” score and the remaining five a “good” score based on the IVS. Photobiomodulation has beneficial effects on chronic pain and inflammation, although more research needs to be completed in this line for this to be clarified as the existence of RCTs on this subject is limited.

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Improvements in clinical signs of Parkinson’s disease using photobiomodulation: a prospective proof of concept study

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Abstract

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with no cure and few treatment
options. Its incidence is increasing due to aging populations, longer disease duration and potentially as a COVID-19
sequela. Photobiomodulation (PBM) has been successfully used in animal models to reduce the signs of PD and to
protect dopaminergic neurons.
Objective: To assess the effectiveness of PBM to mitigate clinical signs of PD in a prospective proof-of-concept
study, using a combination of transcranial and remote treatment, in order to inform on best practice for a larger
randomized placebo-controlled trial (RCT).
Methods: Twelve participants with idiopathic PD were recruited. Six were randomly chosen to begin 12 weeks of
transcranial, intranasal, neck and abdominal PBM. The remaining 6 were waitlisted for 14 weeks before commencing
the same treatment. After the 12-week treatment period, all participants were supplied with PBM devices to
continue home treatment. Participants were assessed for mobility, fine motor skills, balance and cognition before
treatment began, after 4 weeks of treatment, after 12 weeks of treatment and the end of the home treatment
period. A Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test was used to assess treatment effectiveness at a significance level of 5%.
Results: Measures of mobility, cognition, dynamic balance and fine motor skill were significantly improved (p <
0.05) with PBM treatment for 12 weeks and up to one year. Many individual improvements were above the minimal
clinically important difference, the threshold judged to be meaningful for participants. Individual improvements
varied but many continued for up to one year with sustained home treatment. There was a demonstrable
Hawthorne Effect that was below the treatment effect. No side effects of the treatment were observed.

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