2024 journal article
The Impact of Dermal Characteristics on Low-Level Laser Power Measurement in Postmortem Zoological Species
VETERINARY MEDICINE INTERNATIONAL, 2024.
open access via doi.org (publisher)
Source: Web Of Science
Added: September 16, 2024
Photobiomodulation therapy, also termed as low-level laser therapy, is commonly used as an adjunctive therapy for various medical conditions in veterinary practice. The ACTIVet PRO low-level laser has been used for treatment of various nondomestic species, yet the effects of dermal attributes such as pigment, feathers, or scales have not been evaluated. The effects of low-level laser therapy with the ACTIVet PRO have been investigated in laboratory animals, including a study in rats that evaluated the passage of laser light through the skin in postmortem samples. The objective of this study was to measure the power of a low-level laser (ACTIVet PRO) after penetration through dermal tissue (∼1 mm thickness) in a variety of postmortem animal tissue. This study sought to determine the impact of fur, feathers, scales, and different pigments on the ability of the laser to penetrate. Frozen and thawed skin tissue samples from various species were placed inside a light restricted laser box and exposed to a preprogrammed laser level from a Multi Radiance ACTIVet PRO photobiomodulation (PBM) device, with a power meter to measure the light penetration through the tissue samples. Light penetration measurements via power output measurements (mW) were recorded at 7 time points (range, 1-150 sec). A Friedman test was performed to evaluate the difference of the mean tissue penetration by each species at each time point. Lighter colored specimens had higher power readings than darker colored or pigmented samples, and feathers appeared to inhibit the laser, showing minimal to no power readings on bird skin covered in covert and down feathers. There was statistically significant mean tissue penetration for all time points between the rabbit and green sea turtle (