Blue LED treatment of superficial abrasions: in vivo experimental evidence of wound healing improvement

After irradiation with a blue LED light photocoagulator, a faster healing process is observed in superficial skin wounds. This device has been used in order to induce a thermal effect and haemostasis in superficial abrasions. Our previous in vivo study in rat and mouse models focused on the inflammatory phase within the healing process, showed a light-induced modulation, which leads to a shortened healing time and to a better recovery of the dermal tissue. Here we describe a new series of experiments that have been conducted producing two superficial abrasions on the shaved-back of mice, treating the one wound with the blue light and leaving the other one healing without any treatment. The healthy skin was used as a control. The animals were observed during healing and sacrificed at different and selected time points. Wound tissue samples have been harvested both from the treated and untreated areas and examined by histopathological and immunofluorescence analysis, SHG imaging, and confocal microscopy. The results of the study point out the interaction among different cells type and the collagen morphology restoration as obtained in different pathological mice models treated with blue LED light.