Therapeutic Potential of Photobiomodulation in Early Recovery After Experimental Spinal Cord Injury in Rats: Histological and Biomechanical Analysis

Spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to severe functional deficits, underscoring the critical need for new therapies. This study evaluated the efficacy of photobiomodulation (PBM) as an early, noninvasive treatment for induced SCI, using specific parameters (808 nm, 72J/cm2, 100mW). A total of 15 rats were divided into Control (C), SCI, and PBM groups. Efficacy was determined by an inte- grated approach, correlating ground reaction force (GRF) with quantitative histological assessment. The PBM group showed a significant reduction of secondary damage (33.3 ± 5.5 vs. 53.9 ± 7.0 in the SCI group; p = 0.0002) and preserved neural structure. This tissue preservation aligns with the GRF analysis, which demonstrated that the PBM group recovered gait patterns similar to the Control group. In conclusion, PBM effectively mitigates necrosis aerea, maintaining tissue integrity, improving functional recovery, and reinforcing the PBM's therapeutic potential as a promising translatable strategy for outcomes after SCI. Further research should include immunostaining of cells and larger samples.