Experimental research of low-power He-Ne laser irradiation on rabbit chondrocytes and evaluation of its application in clinic

An in vitro study was performed to evaluate the laser biostimulatory effect on cartilage using the low-power He-Ne laser. The chondrocytes, isolated from the cartilage of the medial condyle of the femur of the rabbit, were cultivated, incubated and subject to biostimulatory treatment with the laser. The chondrocytes were placed in 96 Petri dishes at the concentration of 0.25×105 cells/ml and divided into 12 groups (3 dishes every group): the first group was used as the control group, other 11 groups (1-11)were treated with the laser. Control cultures received the same treatment with the laser device off. All the groups were evaluated with a MTT test at the end of the laser treatment and then after 5 days. The cultured chondrocytes showed no damage under a fluorescence microscope and immunostaining was operated to confirm the chondrocytic phenotype. The MTT assay results indicated a positive biostimulatory effect of low-power He-Ne laser on cell proliferation. Thereinto, group 5 and 10 provided the best results in terms of cell viability when compared to the other treated groups and the control group. The increase was maintained for 5 days following the end of the laser treatment. The distinct results obtained with the use of the Low-power He-Ne Laser in the biostimulation of the chondrocytes, no damage and no side-effect, permits us to consider the use of the device clinically.