2023-05-28 11:17:00
Researchers have identified mechanisms by which green light might relieve chronic pain and the color red might amplify it. Their work is published in May 2023 in the journal Neurobiology of Disease.
Studies have shown that green light reduces pain and improves quality of life in people with fibromyalgia and reduces headaches in those with migraines.
While red light amplifies migraine symptoms. For example, when migraine sufferers wear a filter to block red light, they are less photophobic (sensitive to light) and headaches are reduced, a study has shown.
The authors of the new study have also shown in previous work that red light caused thermal hyperalgesia (abnormally increased pain) and mechanical hyperalgesia in rats.
In the present study, Aubin Moutal of St-Louis University (USA) and his colleagues (1) looked at the neural circuits of a nucleus in the thalamus, the lateral geniculate body, which processes visual information from the retina. This region mediates the effects of green light and red light on neuropathic pain.
They found that green light has a pain relieving effect by activating neurons in this region that use glutamate, while red light promotes pain by activating neurons that use GABA.
Glutamate is the most important excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain while GABA is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter.
The researchers also found that the activation of glutaminergic neurons in this region mimics the analgesic effects of green light. These neurons might therefore constitute a new therapeutic target for neuropathic pain.
A pioneer in green light research for the treatment of pain, Mohab Ibrahim from the University of Arizona (USA), was inspired by the fact that he and his brother used to go and sit in a park among the trees to relieve their headaches. Was it tranquility? But he might also be quiet in his office without relieving his headaches. Could it be the trees? A substance they release into the air? Or just their green color? He decided to investigate the subject.
For more information on fibromyalgia, migraine, and green light treatment, see the links below.
(1) Xue-Qing Wu, Bei Tan, Yu Du, Lin Yang, Ting-Ting Hu, Yi-La Ding, Xiao-Yun Qiu, Aubin Moutal, Rajesh Khanna, Jie Yu, Zhong Chen.
Psychomedia with source: Neurobiology of Disease.
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