The earthworm Dendrobaena veneta (Annelida): A new experimental-organism for photobiomodulation and wound healing

Photobiomodulation (PBM) is a manip- ulation of cellular behavior using non-abla- tive low intensity light sources. This manip- ulation triggers a cascade of metabolic effects and physiological changes resulting in improved tissue repair, of benefit in the treatment of tissue injury, degenerative or autoimmune diseases. PBM has witnessed an exponential increase in both clinical instrument technology and applications. It is therefore of benefit to find reliable exper- imental models to test the burgeoning laser technology for medical applications. In our work, we proposed the earthworm Dendrobaena veneta for the study of non- ablative laser-light effects on wound heal- ing. In our preliminary work, D. veneta has been shown to be positively affected by PBM. New tests using D. veneta were set up to evaluate the effectiveness of a chosen 808 nm-64 J/cm2–1W-CW laser therapy using the AB2799 hand-piece with flat-top bean profile, on the wound healing process of the earthworm. Effective outcome was assimilated through examining the macro- scopic, histological, and molecular changes on the irradiated posterior-segment of excised-earthworms with respect to con- trols. Three successive treatments, one every 24 hours, were concluded as suffi- cient to promote the wound healing, by effects on muscular and blood vessel con- traction, decrement of bacteria load, reduc- tion of inflammatory processes and tissue degeneration. D. veneta was demonstrated to be a reliable experimental organism that meets well the 3Rs principles and the National Science Foundation statement. Through their genetic and evolutionary peculiarity, comparable to those of scientif- ically accredited models, D. veneta allows the effect of laser therapies by multidiscipli- nary methods, at various degree of com- plexity and costs to be investigated.