Effects of low level laser therapy on differentiation of myoblasts

Abstract

There is considerable interest in establishing therapies that provide a better, faster muscle repair process. A growing body of evidence suggests that low-level laser therapy (LLLT) promotes skeletal muscle regeneration, but its effectiveness in the treatment of injury remains questionable and its therapeutic potential is not fully established. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effects of low-level AsGaAl laser (Twin-Laser ®, MMOptics) on the differentiation of C2C12 skeletal muscle precursor cells. C2C12 myoblasts will be cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum and will be induced to differentiate by the addition of 2% horse fetal serum before initiating LLLT. The laser parameters will be 10 mW, energy density of 3 and 5 J/cm2 for 20 seconds. Myoblast differentiation will be evaluated one, four and six hours after laser irradiation through a creatine kinase activity assay. A non-irradiated group will serve as the control. The results will be statistically analyzed using ANOVA/Tukey (p < 0.05) to determine differences between groups.