Potential sources of intracellular ROS were excited by blue laser irradiation, resulting in ROS production within cells. Although the low-level intracellular ROS should be generated after a red or a near-infrared laser irradiation, the only high level intracellular ROS were detected by the ROS probe used in this study. As ROS are considered to be key secondary messengers, the specific functional regulation of cells by laser irradiation will be studied in a future study.

Low reactive level laser therapy (LLLT) is mainly focused on the activation of intracellular or extracellular chromophore and the initiation of cellular signaling by using low power lasers. Over the past forty years, it was realized that the laser therapy had the potential to improve wound healing and reduce pain and inflammation. In recent years, the term LLLT has become widely recognized in the field of regenerative medicine. In this review, we will describe the mechanisms of action of LLLT at a cellular level and introduce the application to mesenchymal stem cells and mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) therapies. Finally, our recent research results that LLLT enhanced the MSCs differentiation to osteoblast will also be described.

The present study assessed the ability of optogenetics techniques to provide a better understanding of the control of insulin secretion, particularly regarding pancreatic β-cell function in homeostasis and pathological conditions such as diabetes mellitus (DM). We used optogenetics to investigate whether insulin secretion and blood glucose homeostasis could be controlled by regulating intracellular calcium ion concentrations ([Ca(2+)]i) in a mouse pancreatic β-cell line (MIN6) transfected with the optogenetic protein channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2). The ChR2-transfected MIN6 (ChR2-MIN6) cells secreted insulin following irradiation with a laser (470 nm). The increase in [Ca(2+)]i was accompanied by elevated levels of messenger RNAs that encode calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II delta and adenylate cyclase 1. ChR2-MIN6 cells suspended in matrigel were inoculated into streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice that were then subjected to a glucose tolerance test. Laser irradiation of these mice caused a significant decrease in blood glucose, and the irradiated implanted cells expressed insulin. These findings demonstrate the power of optogenetics to precisely and efficiently controlled insulin secretion by pancreatic β-cells 'on demand', in contrast to techniques using growth factors or chemical inducers. Optogenetic technology shows great promise for understanding the mechanisms of glucose homeostasis and for developing treatments for metabolic diseases such as DM.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves the administration of a photosensitizer, followed by local irradiation of tumor tissues using a laser of an appropriate wavelength to activate the photosensitizer. Since multiple cellular signaling cascades are concomitantly activated in cancer cells exposed to the photodynamic effect, understanding the responses of cancer cells to PDT will aid in the development of new interventions. This review describes the possible cell-death signaling pathways initiated by PDT. In addition, we describe our latest findings regarding the induction of expression of miRNAs specific to apoptosis in cancer cells and the induction of antitumor immunity following PDT against cancer cells. A more detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms related to PDT will potentially improve long-term survival of PDT treated patients.

Applications of laser therapy, including low-level laser therapy (LLLT), phototherapy and photodynamic therapy (PDT), have been proven to be beneficial and relatively less invasive therapeutic modalities for numerous diseases and disease conditions. Using specific types of laser irradiation, specific cellular activities can be induced. Because multiple cellular signaling cascades are simultaneously activated in cells exposed to lasers, understanding the molecular responses within cells will aid in the development of laser therapies. In order to understand in detail the molecular mechanisms of LLLT and PDT-related responses, it will be useful to characterize the specific expression of miRNAs and proteins. Such analyses will provide an important source for new applications of laser therapy, as well as for the development of individualized treatments. Although several miRNAs should be up- or down-regulated upon stimulation by LLLT, phototherapy and PDT, very few published studies address the effect of laser therapy on miRNA expression. In this review, we focus on LLLT, phototherapy and PDT as representative laser therapies and discuss the effects of these therapies on miRNA expression.

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In optogenetics, targeted illumination is used to control the functions of cells expressing exogenous light-activated proteins. Adoption of the optogenetic methods has expanded rapidly in recent years. In this review, we describe the photosensitive channel proteins involved in these methods, describe techniques for their targeting to neurons and other cell types both within and outside the nervous system, and discuss their applications in the field of neuroscience and beyond. We focus especially on the channelrhodopsin protein ChR2, the photosensitive protein most commonly employed in optogenetics. ChR2 has been used by many groups to control neuronal activity, bothin vitroandin vivo, on short time scales and with exquisite anatomical precision. In addition, we describe more recently developed tools such as opsin/G protein-coupled receptor chimeric molecules and a light-activated transgene system. In addition, we discuss the potential significance of optogenetics in the development of clinical therapeutics. Although less than a decade old, optogenetics is already responsible for enormous progress in disparate fields, and its future is unquestionably bright.

Photoacoustic (PA) imaging offers depth-resolved images of optical absorbers with the spatial resolution of ultrasound imaging. To enhance tumour contrast, tumour-specific probes are used as contrast agents. We synthesised a colourless PA probe that is activated in the presence of γ-glutamyltranspeptidase, a cancer-associated enzyme, to show its original colour and fluorescence. We have acquired high specificity fluorescence images of small tumours, using a fluorescent probe based on similar enzymatic reactions. Here, we developed a PA imaging technique to detect the PA probe. In PA imaging, depending on the concentration and excitation wavelength of the probe, the intensities of the probe signals may be lower than those of the background signals produced by intrinsic optical absorbers such as haemoglobin. For probe imaging in the presence of strong background signals, multispectral photoacoustic (MS-PA) imaging was evaluated. In MS-PA imaging, the spectral fitting method, which distinguishes the probe signals from background signals using reference spectra, has been widely used. To compensate for the decrease of fluence due to optical attenuation in biological tissue, we used a simplified compensation method that calculates fluence inside biological tissues by the Monte-Carlo model using published data on optical properties of biological tissues. The validity of the method was confirmed using tissue-mimicking phantoms. Finally, MS-PA imaging of a mouse subcutaneous tumour injected with the activatable probe was demonstrated. In conclusion, our MS-PA imaging technique afforded successful detection of the activated probe in the tumour, and time-increase of PA signals were successfully observed.