title: Transcranial Near-Infrared Laser Transmission (NILT) Profiles (800 nm): Systematic Comparison in Four Common Research Species.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Transcranial near-infrared laser therapy (TLT) is a promising and novel method to promote neuroprotection and clinical improvement in both acute and chronic neurodegenerative diseases such as acute ischemic stroke (AIS), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients based upon efficacy in translational animal models. However, there is limited information in the peer-reviewed literature pertaining to transcranial near-infrared laser transmission (NILT) profiles in various species. Thus, in the present study we systematically evaluated NILT characteristics through the skull of 4 different species: mouse, rat, rabbit and human.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using dehydrated skulls from 3 animal species, using a wavelength of 800nm and a surface power density of 700 mW/cm2, NILT decreased from 40.10% (mouse) to 21.24% (rat) to 11.36% (rabbit) as skull thickness measured at bregma increased from 0.44 mm in mouse to 0.83 mm in rat and then 2.11 mm in rabbit. NILT also significantly increased (p<0.05) when animal skulls were hydrated (i.e. compared to dehydrated); but there was no measurable change in thickness due to hydration. In human calvaria, where mean thickness ranged from 7.19 mm at bregma to 5.91 mm in the parietal skull, only 4.18% and 4.24% of applied near-infrared light was transmitted through the skull. There was a slight (9.2-13.4%), but insignificant effect of hydration state on NILT transmission of human skulls, but there was a significant positive correlation between NILT and thickness at bregma and parietal skull, in both hydrated and dehydrated states.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first systematic study to demonstrate differential NILT through the skulls of 4 different species; with an inverse relationship between NILT and skull thickness. With animal skulls, transmission profiles are dependent upon the hydration state of the skull, with significantly greater penetration through hydrated skulls compared to dehydrated skulls. Using human skulls, we demonstrate a significant correlation between thickness and penetration, but there was no correlation with skull density. The results suggest that TLT should be optimized in animals using novel approaches incorporating human skull characteristics, because of significant variance of NILT profiles directly related to skull thickness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, United States of America; Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical center, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Lapchak
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Paul D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Boitano
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical center, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Pramod V
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Butte
authors.affiliation: BURL Concepts Inc., San Diego, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.affiliation: BURL Concepts Inc., San Diego, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Thilo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hölscher
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical center, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Eric J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Ley
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical center, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nuño
authors.affiliation: BURL Concepts Inc., San Diego, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Arne H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Voie
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical center, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Padmesh S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Rajput
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007259:Infrared Rays; D053685:Laser Therapy; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D011817:Rabbits; D051381:Rats; D012886:Skull