Summary: Long-wavelength crimson light coverage significantly reduced the number of blood clots in both human and mouse reports. Red light was associated with lower inflammation, reduced immune system activation, and fewer clot-promoting mechanisms, such as neutrophil extracellular traps ( NETs ) and platelet activation.
Red light, in contrast to blue or white light, has an impact on clotting through optical pathways, suggesting that neural mechanisms are involved in its actions rather than direct heart exposure. These results offer tempting implications for reducing risks of heart attacks, strokes, and another clot-related problems, especially in high-risk organizations like cancer patients.
Researchers are developing red-light-based interventions, such as goggles, to explore potential therapeutic applications. This method, if clinical trials are conducted, could revolutionize clot prevention and save millions of lives.
Key Facts:
- Red light exposure caused five times fewer blood clots in mice than blue or white light exposure.
- Mechanism: Red light reduced inflammation and platelet activation, key drivers of clot formation.
- Human Connection: Cancer patients with blue light-filtering lenses also showed lower blood clot risks.
Source: University of Pittsburgh
Humans and mice exposed to long-wavelength red light had lower rates of blood clots that can cause heart attacks, lung damage and strokes, according to research led by , University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine , and , UPMC , surgeon-scientists and published today in the , Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.
The findings, which need to be verified through clinical trials, have the potential to reduce blood clots in veins and arteries, which are  , leading causes of preventable death worldwide.  ,
” The light we’re exposed to can change our biological processes and change our health”, said lead author Elizabeth Andraska, M. D., assistant professor of surgery in , Pitt’s Trauma and Transfusion Medicine Research Center , and , vascular surgery resident at UPMC. ” Our findings could lead to a relatively inexpensive therapy that millions of people would benefit.”
Scientists have long believed that light exposure has a positive impact on health. The rising and setting of the sun underlies , metabolism, hormone secretion, even the flow of blood, and , heart attacks and stroke , are more likely to happen in the morning hours than at night. Andraska and her coworkers were curious to find out if light could affect the blood clots that cause these conditions.
To test this idea, the team exposed mice to 12 hours of either red, blue or white light, followed by 12 hours of darkness, in a 72-hour cycle. Then, they examined the differences in blood clots between the groups.
Nearly five times fewer clots were found in red-exposure mice than in white or blue mice. Activity, sleep, eating, weight and body temperature remained the same between the groups.
The team also analyzed existing data from more than 10,000 cataract patients who had surgery and had either blue light-filtering or conventional lenses that transmit the entire visible spectrum of light, which are approximately 50 % less blue light-transmitted.
They found that cancer patients who had blue light-filtering lenses had a lower risk of blood clots than those who had conventional lenses. This is especially noteworthy because cancer patients are nine times more likely than non-cancer patients to have blood clots.
According to senior author Matthew Neal, M. D., professor of surgery, Watson Fund in Surgery Chair and co-director of the Trauma and Transfusion Medicine Research Center at Pitt, and trauma surgeon at UPMC,” These results are unraveling a fascinating mystery about how the light we’re exposed to on a daily basis influences our body’s response to injury.”
” Our next steps are to figure out why, biologically, this is happening, and to test if exposing people at high risk for blood clots to more red light lowers that risk. The ability to get to the bottom of our discovery has the potential to significantly reduce the number of deaths and disabilities brought on by blood clots worldwide.
The recently published study suggests that the optic pathway is essential because light wavelength didn’t have an impact on blind mice and that shining light directly onto blood didn’t change clotting.
The researchers found that red light exposure is related to less immune system activation and inflammation. For example, red light-exposed mice had fewer neutrophil extracellular traps – aptly abbreviated as” NETs”– which are web-like structures made by immune cells to trap invading microorganisms. They also trap platelets, which can lead to clots.
The mice exposed to red light also had increased fatty acid production, which reduces platelet activation. Since platelets are crucial for forming clots, this naturally results in a lower rate of clot formation.
Understanding how red light triggers changes that lower the risk of clotting could lead to better treatments or therapies that could be more potent and convenient for patients than continuous red light exposure.
The team is developing red light goggles to control how much light is given to participants in clinical trials and determine who has the greatest potential to benefit from red light exposure.
Additional authors on this research are Frederik Denorme, Ph. D., Robert Campbell, Ph. D., and Matthew R. Rosengart, M. D., all of , Washington University in St. Louis, Christof Kaltenmeier, M. D., Aishwarrya Arivudainabi, Emily P. Mihalko, Ph. D., Mitchell Dyer, M. D., Gowtham K. Annarapu, Ph. D., Mohammadreza Zarisfi, M. D., Patricia Loughran, Ph. D., Mehves Ozel, M. D., Kelly Williamson, Ph. D., Roberto Mota-Alvidrez, M. D., Sruti Shiva, Ph. D., Susan Shea, Ph. D., and Richard A. Steinman, M. D., Ph. D., all of Pitt, and Kimberly Thomas, Ph. D., of , Vitalant Research Institute.
Funding: This research was supported by , National Institutes of Health , grants R35GM119526, K01AG059892, R01HL163019, R01GM147121, R01GM145674, T32HL98036 and S10OD028483, the , University of Pittsburgh Center for Research Computing, National Center for Research Resources Shared Instrumentation grants 1S10OD016232-01, 1S10OD018210-01A1 and 1S10OD021505-01, American Heart Association 2021Post830138 award, and a Physician-Scientist Institutional Award from the , Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
About this news about neurotechnology and neurology research
Author: Allison Hydzik
Source: University of Pittsburgh
Contact: Allison Hydzik – University of Pittsburgh
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
Elizabeth Andraska et al.'” Alterations in exposure to visible light affect platelet function and prevent thrombus formation.” Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis
Abstract
Alterations in exposure to visible light affect platelet function and prevent thrombus formation
Background
Changes in inflammation and coagulation are related to variations in light exposure. The effects of light spectra on arterial and venous thrombosis (VT ) are largely unexplored.
Objectives
To investigate the effects of changing the light spectrum on platelet function during thrombosis.
Methods
Wild-type C57BL/6J mice were exposed to ambient ( micewhite, 400 lux ), blue ( miceblue, 442 nm, 1400 lux ), or red light ( micered, 617 nm, 1400 lux ) with 12: 12 hour light: dark cycle for 72 hours. After 72 hours of light exposure, platelet aggregation, activation, transcriptomic, and metabolomic changes were measured.
The ability of platelet activation-released platelets to create thrombosis-generating neutrophil extracellular trap formation was examined. Using murine VT and stroke murine models, we measured subsequent thrombosis.
Light-filtering cataract patients were evaluated over an 8-year period for rate of venous thromboembolism using multivariable logistic regression clustered by hospital to apply our findings to human patients.
Results
Reduced platelet activation and aggregation were a result of long-wavelength red light exposure. RNA-seq analysis demonstrated no significant transcriptomic changes between micered , and micewhite.
However, there were global metabolomic changes in platelets from micered , compared with micewhite. Releasate from activated platelets resulted in lessening the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps. Micered , also had reduced VT weight and brain infarct size following stroke.
Patients with a history of cancer had a lower lifetime risk of venous thromboembolism after implantation with lenses that filter low-wavelength light, according to subgroup analysis of cataract patients.
Conclusion
By specifically focusing on the link between coagulation and innate immune function, light therapy may be a promising treatment for thrombus prophylaxis.
