In this study, we present a review of the literature on the impact of photobiomodulation on osteoblast-like cell culture. Searches were performed in the PubMed/MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online), SCOPUS, and SPIE digital library databases for original articles regarding the effects of LLLT on osteoblast-like cells in experimental models using LLLT published in English from the last 20 years. The search identified 1439 studies. After the analysis of the abstracts, 1409 studies were excluded and 30 studies were then selected for the full-text analysis, 8 of which were excluded. Thus, 22 studies were included for a critical evaluation of the impact of photobiomodulation on osteoblast-like cell culture. The cell lineages studied were primary rat, primary human, saos-2, Osteo-1, MC3T3, MG63, and OFCOL II. Moreover, a wide variety of experimental models were used to experimentally analyze the impact of photobiomodulation, the most common of which were alkaline phosphatase, MTT, and cell count. This review suggests that osteoblastic-like cells are susceptible to photobiomodulation but that most of the light parameters varied by different authors have little to no influence on proliferation but very high levels of irradiance have demonstrated deleterious effects on proliferation, highlighting the bi-phasic effect of photobiomodulation.
Keywords: LED; Osteoblast; Photobiomodulation; laser; Review.