Intense light protects against lung damage, research finds
Study says it stimulates proteins that can protect against acute lung
injury as seen with COVID-19
Date:
March 24, 2022
Source:
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Summary:
Intense light activates proteins shown to protect against lung
damage in mice, a discovery that could have major therapeutic
implications for treating diseases like acute lung injury in humans,
according to a new study.
FULL STORY ========================================================================== Intense light activates proteins shown to protect against lung damage
in mice, a discovery that could have major therapeutic implications
for treating diseases like acute lung injury in humans, according to
a new study from researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz
Medical Campus.
========================================================================== "Acute lung injury has a mortality rate of 40%," said the study's lead
author Tobias Eckle, M.D., professor of anesthesiology at the University
of Colorado School of Medicine. "No specific therapy exists, and novel treatment options are needed." The study was published this week in the American Journal of Physiology -- Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology.
Eckle's team, which previously demonstrated that light can protect against cardiovascular disease, housed mice under intense rather than ambient
light for seven days. This prompted a strong increase in the trough and
peak levels of the pulmonary circadian rhythm protein -- Period 2 or PER2.
If the protein was deleted in a specific lung cell known as the alveolar
type 2 cell, acute lung injury was fatal. If the protein was not deleted,
85% of the mice survived. Alveolar type 2 cells have long been recognized
as playing an important role during acute lung injury but have never
been linked to the light regulated protein PER2.
The study also showed that intense light therapy reduced lung inflammation
or improved the function of the alveolar barrier -- the blood-air barrier
-- in lung infections. Researchers saw the same reaction when using
the flavonoid, nobiletin, found in orange peel, which also enhances the amplitude of PER2.
At the same time, the researchers found that intense light stimulated production of the BPIFB1 protein, known to be anti-bacterial and secreted within the mucus membranes of the large airways. They believe this also
likely plays a role in protecting the lungs.
Discovering that intense light can protect against lung damage, Eckle
said, is important due to the lack of therapies currently available to
treat the condition.
"If you develop lung injury there is essentially no good therapy left,"
he said. "Our study has shown that intense light elicited lung-protective mechanisms could lead to new therapies even after the onsetof acute lung
injury in the future."
========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Colorado_Anschutz_Medical_Campus. Original written by
David Kelly. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Yoshimasa Oyama, Sydney R Shuff, Nana Burns, Christine U Vohwinkel,
Tobias Eckle. Intense light elicited alveolar type 2 specific
circadian PER2 protects from bacterial lung injury via
BPIFB1. American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular
Physiology, March 10, 2022; DOI: 10.1152/ajplung.00301.2021 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220324104430.htm
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