Photobiomodulation rescues cognitive flexibility in early stressed subjects.

In this study, we performed maternal separation (10 days, 4 hours per day) in rats, and in adulthood, we tested their spatial navigation and cognitive flexibility. In addition, we delivered photobiomodulation treatment (Low-level light therapy: 1064nm, 30mW, 60 cycles) on the rats' brains, and we tested energy oxidative metabolism using cytochrome c oxidase histochemistry. Early life stress delivered in the form of maternal separation on the first 10 postnatal days leads to cognitive flexibility impairment and a general increase in energy metabolism in adulthood. Low-level light therapy seems to be useful for treating these unwanted outcomes, because it rescued cognitive flexibility and returned the oxidative energy metabolism to balanced scores, without harming controls' brains or behavior. Photobiomodulation is a promising tool in the treatment of chronic stress-related consequences because it rescued cognitive flexibility. PMID: 31226326 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Brain Research - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Brain Res Source Type: research