Effect of Low Intensity He-Ne Laser on Ultrastructure of Human Erythrocyte Membrane by Atomic Force Microscope

It was commonly accepted that the effect of low intensity laser irradiation modulated the deformability of erythrocyte. But the idiographic mechanism is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to find out this mechanism through studying the effect of low intensity He-Ne laser on ultrastructure of healthy human erythrocyte membrane, which was treated with free radical of Fenton reaction system prior to exposure to low intensity He-Ne laser. We have analyzed the surface ultrastructure of damaged erythrocytes from a microscope viewpoint by atomic force microscope (AFM) featuring nano meterscale visualization. The results showed that the erythrocyte membrane became very rough after treated with free radical, the molecules on the surface of membrane congregated form different magnitude of particles. Comparing with the non-irradiated group (control group), the extend of congregation of the protein molecular particles by the power of 9 mW and 18 mW He-Ne laser irradiated group had been improved respectively. The average size of molecular particles changed smaller than control (control:66.41 nm, 9 mw: 62.50 nm, 18 mw: 54.69 nm), and the effect that the erythrocyte was irradiated by the power of 18 mw was better than the one irradiated by the power of 9 mw. To some extent, there was a repaired function for low intensity laser to the free radical damaged erythrocyte membrane. The mechanism of low intensity laser irradiation improved the deformability of free radical damaged erythrocyte possibly through laser irradiation recovered the normal molecular conformation on the erythrocyte membrane. AFM images provide a more direct-viewing method for studying the mechanism of low intensity laser irradiation improving the deformability of erythrocyte.