Laser-induced photodissociation of oxyhemoglobin: Optical method of elimination of hypoxia (oxygen deficiency in biotissue)

Abstract

We consider the effect of laser-induced in vivo photodissociation of blood oxyhemoglobin on gas exchange in biological tissues. An optical method of laser-induced oxygenation of biotissues is developed and proposed. We show that, in the region of the action of the laser radiation, the degree of oxygenation of a tissue increases. We experimentally confirm that the phenomenon of laser-induced in vivo photodissociation of oxyhemoglobin opens up a new possibility of controlling the local concentration of free molecular oxygen in tissues, eliminating tissue hypoxia, and stimulating aerobic metabolism of cells. We show that the efficiency of the proposed method of laser-induced oxygenation of biotissues proves to be comparable with the efficiency of the hyperbaric oxygenation, but has the advantage of the locality of the action. The proposed optical method of local oxygenation of biotissues will make it possible to eliminate the problem of hypoxia in cancerous tumor tissue and to considerably increase the efficiency of photodynamic, radiation, and chemotherapy in modern oncology.