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Photobiomodulation Modulates Temporal VEGF Dynamics and Tissue Repair During Diabetic Oral Mucosal Wound Healing in Rats

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Photobiomodulation (PBM) may improve diabetic wound repair, but the temporal relationship between local angiogenic signaling and tissue-level healing remains incompletely defined. We examined previously unreported tissue vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and histopathological outcomes from 72 ulcer-bearing male Wistar rats from a previously reported experimental cohort, using a balanced 2 × 2 × 3 design comprising metabolic status, PBM treatment, and healing day (3, 7, or 10; n = 6 per cell). Tissue VEGF was quantified by ELISA and normalized to total protein; histopathological outcomes included exploratory inflammation/injury and tissue repair composite scores. In the factorial log-VEGF model, diabetes × day (p = 0.0017) and LLLT × day (p = 0.0010) interactions demonstrated phase-dependent responses. On day 3, PBM-treated animals had an adjusted VEGF ratio of 2.13 versus untreated animals (95% CI 1.63–2.78; Holm-adjusted p < 0.001), whereas diabetic animals had lower VEGF than healthy animals (ratio 0.50, 95% CI 0.39–0.66; adjusted p < 0.001). VEGF concentrations converged by day 10. PBM remained associated with a higher exploratory tissue repair score after adjustment for healing day, diabetes status, and contemporaneous VEGF, whereas VEGF itself was not independently associated with repair. These findings demonstrate phase-dependent differences in tissue VEGF and suggest that contemporaneous VEGF concentrations do not fully explain treatment-associated variation in exploratory histopathological repair scores.

Source: International Journal of Molecular Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/ijms27219395