The application and trend of ultra-weak photon emission in biology and medicine

Jinxin Du; Tingting Deng; Baorui Cao; Zhiying Wang; Meina Yang; Jinxiang Han

doi:10.3389/fchem.2023.1140128

The application and trend of ultra-weak photon emission in biology and medicine

Front Chem. 2023 Feb 17:11:1140128. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2023.1140128. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Jinxin Du¹, Tingting Deng¹, Baorui Cao², Zhiying Wang², Meina Yang², Jinxiang Han²

Affiliations

¹ College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, China.
² NHC Key Laboratory of Biotechnology Drugs (Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences), Biomedical Sciences College, Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China.

Abstract

Ultra-weak bioluminescence, also known as ultra-weak photon emission (UPE), is one of the functional characteristics of biological organisms, characterized by specialized, low-energy level luminescence. Researchers have extensively studied UPE for decades, and the mechanisms by which UPE is generated and its properties have been extensively investigated. However, there has been a gradual shift in research focus on UPE in recent years toward exploring its application value. To better understand the application and trend of UPE in biology and medicine, we have conducted a review of relevant articles in recent years. Among the several topics covered in this review is UPE research in biology and medicine (including traditional Chinese medicine), primarily focused on UPE as a promising non-invasive tool for diagnosis and oxidative metabolism monitoring as well as a potential tool for traditional Chinese medicine research.

Keywords: TCM research; oxidative stress; reactive oxygen species (ROS); ultra-weak bioluminescence; ultra-weak photon emission.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 82004212), the Key Research and Development Plan of Shandong Province (no. 2019GSF108168), Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Project of Shandong Province (no. M-2022259), the Academic Promotion Program of Shandong First Medical University (no. 2019LJ001), and the Medical and Health Science and Technology Development project of Shandong Province (no. 202203070909).