Our goal was to build, characterize and test a red light-emitting diode (LED) device suitable for wound healing and disinfection of biomedical appliances. We designed and built a unique irradiator metallic box, for which irradiation distribution and spectral irradiance were calculated. In addition, we explored the device’s potential in photobiology comparing the healing of irradiated third degree burns with lesions that were left to heal spontaneously in mice. We also compared photodynamic microbial reduction with LED-irradiator and methylene blue vs. disinfection with a standard chemical solution, for photochemical applications. Our results showed that the LED-irradiator was able to accelerate the wound healing process compared to control group. In addition, a statistically significant microbial reduction was obtained with photodynamic inactivation compared to chemical decontamination. Thus, the prototype design is suitable for phototherapy studies since it is advantageous for low-level light therapy as well as for antimicrobial photodynamic therapy. In our perspective, this device can potentiate the dissemination of phototherapy studies to determine its suitable application in health sciences.
Keywords:
low-level light therapy; methylene blue; microbial reduction; photodynamic therapy; wound healing
