The effect of dosage on the efficiency of LLLT in new bone formation at the expanded suture in rats.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect that dosage has on the efficiency of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) in bone formation in a rat study model. Twenty-eight rats were divided into four groups as only expansion (OE), expansion + low dose (0.15 J) (LD), expansion + medium dose (0.65 J) (MD), and expansion + high dose (198 J) (HD) laser therapy groups. The midpalatal suture was expanded during 5 days. Afterwards, irradiations were started and performed with an 820 nm, continuous wave, Ga-Al-As diode laser (Doris, CTL-1106MX, Warsaw, Poland). At the end of experiment, the premaxillae of the animals were dissected. The sections were transferred into PC environment and analyzed by using Image Analysis program. Number of osteoblasts, osteoclasts, fibroblasts, vessels, transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) expression, and new bone formation were evaluated with this program. Amount of expansion did not show any difference among the groups. All parameters except the number of osteoclasts were increased in all lased groups while that parameter was significantly decreased. Vessels, TGF-β expression, and new bone formation were mostly increased in LD group followed by HD group. Among the lased groups, a significant difference was observed only for the amount of new bone formation, which was between the LD and the MD groups. On the other hand, the difference in this parameter was insignificant between OE and MD groups. Low-level laser therapy with both 5 and 6,300 J/cm(2) doses was found to be significantly effective, while the 20 J/cm(2) dose did not show a significant effect in increasing new bone formation. This finding reveals that the efficiency of the therapy is affected by the dosage.