Table 5.
Photobiomodulation for major depressive disorder in animal and clinical studies
| Animal studies | Animals | Wavelength (nm) | Irradiation parameters | |
| Ando et al. (2011) | 40 Male BALB/c mice | Depression following traumatic brain injury | 810 | CW; PW at 10 Hz and 100 Hz |
| Wu et al. (2012) | 32 Adult male BALB/c mice | Chronic mild stress | 810 | PW at 100 Hz |
| Salehpour and Rasta (2016) | 50 Adult male BALB/c mice | Chronic mild stress | 630 or 810 | PW at 10 Hz |
| Mohammed (2016) | 24 Adult male albino rats | Reserpine induced depression | 804 | CW |
| Xu et al. (2016) | / | Depression induced by Ahi1 KO or space restriction | 808 | CW |
| Salehpour et al. (2018) | 75 Adult male BALB/c mice | Sub-chronic restraint stress | 810 | PW at 10 Hz |
| Clinical studies | Subjects | Wavelength (nm) | Irradiation parameters | Irradiation parameters |
| Quah-Smith et al. (2005) | 30 Patients with elevated depressive symptoms | 804 | CW | / |
| Schiffer et al. (2009) | 10 Patients with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder | 810 | CW | 250 mW/cm2, 60 J/cm2 |
| Cassano et al. (2015) | 4 Patients with major depressive disorder | 808 | CW | 5 W, 700 mW/cm2, 84 J/cm2 |
| Henderson et al. (2017) | 39 Patients with traumatic brain injury presenting with depressive symptoms | 810, 980 | CW | 8–15 W |
| Disner et al. (2016) | Fifty-one adult participants with elevated symptoms of depression | 1064 | CW | 250 mW/cm2, 60 J/cm2 |
| Caldieraro et al. (2018) | One patient with major depressive disorder with anxious distress | 830 | CW | 36mW/cm2; 80J/cm2 |
CW: Continuous wave; KO: knock-out; PW: pulsed wave.