Spectral studies of photomodification of blood by therapeutic doses of optical radiation at different wavelengths

We analyze changes in electronic and IR absorption spectra of samples of blood and its components, in the fluorescence spectra of plasma, as well as in the gas composition of blood, the hemoglobin concentration, and acid-base balance indices, upon the irradiation of blood by therapeutic doses of optical radiation at 254, 632.8, 670, and 806 nm. We show that the irradiation of blood by radiation at these wavelengths initiates similar molecular changes in blood and its components and that monochromatic incoherent light acts equally as efficiently as laser radiation. We find that, if the blood irradiation wavelength is in the range of the absorption bands of hemoglobin, the hemoglobin acts as a primary photoacceptor and that the dissociation of hemoglobin complexes with ligands directly in erythrocytes is a primary photoprocess. We conclude that the photomodification of blood should be attributed to therapeutic methods capable of controlling the balance between the production of active forms of oxygen and their inhibition by antioxidant systems of the organism.