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According to a study published in the journal Neurobiology of Disease, green light may relieve chronic pain, especially that experienced by people with migraine and fibromyalgia. It would activate specific neurons, which would have the effect of reducing pain.
Phototherapy for pain relief
Phototherapy is an emerging non-pharmacological treatment used in the management of depression, circadian rhythm disorders, neurodegeneration, but also migraine and fibromyalgia. However, the mechanisms induced by phototherapy and which inhibit pain sensitivity are not yet well understood, explain the authors of this new work published in the journal Neurobiology of Disease.
They were therefore interested in the activity of the neural circuits of the part of the brain that processes visual information from the retina: the lateral geniculate body, located in the thalamus. The objective was to understand how what we see, and in particular the different colors of light, can influence our perception of pain.
Green light activates certain glutamatergic neurons
Their research was conducted on people with fibromyalgia and migraines. They were exposed to green LED light and red LED light. The team of scientists report that exposure to green light reduced pain and improved the quality of life of people with fibromyalgia. Migraine patients, on the other hand, reported that their headaches had lessened thanks to the green light. Conversely, exposure to red light had only amplified their symptoms.
The painkilling effect induced by the green light was linked to the activation of neurons present in the lateral geniculate body and which use glutamate, a cerebral excitatory neurotransmitter. Red light activated neurons that use GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), a neurotransmitter that inhibits excitatory neurotransmitters (glutamate, serotonin, adrenaline). This discovery could pave the way for new treatments for neuropathic pain. The aim would be to develop drugs that activate glutamatergic neurons in this region of the brain, in other words drugs that mimic the analgesic effects of green light.
But before that, more research needs to be done to confirm these findings, the study authors point out.