Awake & Asleep: Our Brain on PBM

The effect of photobiomodulation on the brain during wakefulness and sleep
Frontiers in Neuroscience (2022) DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.942536​
Cecile Moro1, Audrey Valverde1, Marjorie Dole1,Jaimie Hoh Kam1, Catherine Hamilton2, Ann Liebert3,
Brian Bicknell4, Alim-Louis Benabid1, Pierre Magistretti1,5 and John Mitrofanis1,6*

I'm very glad to see this paper detailing the differences in response to PBM during sleep and wakefulness as it directs our attention to new and creatively therapeutic applications of this remarkable tool. The model of combined PBM and Neurofeedback (NFB) treatment used in our lab and clinical practice is initially centered on renormalization of circadian rhythm. The paper recognizes the default mode network's impaired functionality in dementia which supports our advocating the integration of neurofeedback training with photobiomodulation to resolve both tissue-level and neural connectivity aspects of neurodegenerative disorders.

PBM has been shown to increase cortical perfusion thereby reversing the decline in glymphatic functioning that's associated with neurodegeneration. The authors speculate that biophotonic emissions are a part of the neural communication network and increase in influence during sleep. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) described how our organs and comprehensive functional systems as having activity and repair cycles and that some critical repair activity initiates when we are asleep, e.g. the liver repairs itself between 1-3am but only if we are asleep during that period. (www.nirvananaturopathics.com/blog/).  The glymphatic system only recently identified in western medical literature, is now describing how the body organizes both repair and detoxification functions that are in line with the TCM's temporal rhythm model. 

Unfortunately, there was no mention in this paper concerning the use of 1070nm as an effective wavelength for photobiomodulation by noting the effective range was from 600-1000nm. There is now rather compelling evidence for 1070nm being more effective at increasing CCO and oxygenated hemoglobin as was shown in work from Hanli Liu's lab at UT-Arlington (Pruitt, 2021) and from Baylor Research Institute and Quietmind Foundation in modifying both cognitive and behavioral symptoms of early to mid-stage Alzheimer's disease. (Nizamutdinov, 2021)  Quietmind Fdn. will be initiating case studies using the Neuradiant 1070 4Q PBM system being promoted by Neuronic Devices Ltd. to evaluate the use of PBM during wakefulness and sleep and collect EEG, HRV, and other relevant biometric data.  

References: 
Pruitt, T.; Carter, C.; Wang, X.;Wu, A.; Liu, H. Photobiomodulation at Different Wavelengths Boosts Mitochondrial Redox Metabolism and Hemoglobin Oxygenation: Lasers vs. Light-Emitting Diodes In Vivo. Metabolites 2022, 12, 103. https://
doi.org/10.3390/metabo12020103

Nizamutdinov, D, etal., Transcranial Near Infrared Light Stimulations Improve Cognition in Patients with Dementia Aging and Disease • Volume 12, Number 4, July 2021 960.