November 19, 2019
Michael Denton to discuss photobiomodulation in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Seminar
Submitted by Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
Michael L. Denton, deputy chief of the Optical Radiation Bioeffects Branch at Joint Base San Antonio, Fort Sam Houston, is the featured speaker for Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Seminar on Wednesday, Nov. 20. He will present "Photobiomodulation: Mechanisms vs. Applications" at 4 p.m. in 120 Ackert Hall.
Denton received a Bachelor of Science in biological sciences from Colorado State University in 1984, and a doctorate in biochemistry from Kansas State University in 1991. Denton has been with the Optical Radiation Branch at the Air Force Research Laboratory since 2000. He is currently studying the photothermal and photochemical mechanisms of laser-tissue interaction using in vitro model systems.
Presentation: Photobiomodulation, or PBM, is a biological outcome of exposure to low-level light in the red and near-infrared, or NIR, wavelengths. Current literature has attributed beneficial effects to PBM, to include improved wound healing, enhanced mitochondrial function, functional enhancements in patients suffering from stroke, and improved cognitive function in a murine model for traumatic brain injury. Cytochrome c oxidase, also named complex IV, or C-IV, in the electron transport chain, or ETC, is the expected primary chromophore for the red and NIR exposures. The direct evidence that PBM is a consequence of absorption by C-IV is incomplete. Recently, our lab has found metabolic perturbations in cells and isolated mitochondria from low-level exposures to blue and green light as well. To study the immediate and early events of PBM we used a combination of fluorescence microscopy, resonance Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transformed IR, or FT-IR, spectroscopy, and ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy, or TAS, on cells, isolated mitochondria, and purified ETC enzymes.