Potential Inhibitory Effect of LED-Sourced Red Light Therapy on Ocular Growth in Normal and Myopic Chicks

Description

Fengjuan Yu and co-authors test LED sourced red light as a safer stand-in for laser therapy against myopia, in a 2026 study spanning cell culture and chicks. Laser based repeated red light treatment slows childhood myopia but raises retinal safety questions, while light-emitting diodes produce negligible heat. The team exposed mouse photoreceptor cells to two red wavelengths, then treated normally growing chicks and chicks fitted with minus lenses that induce short-sightedness.

In culture, the longer wavelength, 664 nanometers, activated the mitochondrial enzyme cytochrome c oxidase more strongly and improved cell survival. In chicks, ten days of low-intensity light slowed eye elongation in normally growing birds but not in lens treated eyes. Moderate and high intensities did slow myopia progression in the lens group, and high intensity even protected the untreated fellow eye. The authors present diode light as a credible alternative worth further safety work.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13300664