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

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

Jinxin Du  1 , Tingting Deng  1 , Baorui Cao  2 , Zhiying Wang  2 , Meina Yang  2 , Jinxiang Han  2
Affiliations
Review

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

Jinxin Du et al. Front Chem. .

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.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The reviewer KM declared a shared affiliation with the author JD and TD to the handling editor at the time of review.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The production of intracellular ROS and mechanisms of electronically excited species formation. (ROS production occurs in cell membranes, chloroplasts and mitochondria, where oxygen was converted into O2e-, H2O2, HO* and 1O2; the oxidation of biomolecules by ROS leads to the formation of 3R=O*, 1P*, 3P* 1O2 respectively, resulting in photon emission at different spectral wavelengths.).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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