New insights into the antimicrobial blue light inactivation of Candida albicans

Abstract

an innovative light-based antimicrobial approach, antimicrobial blue light (aBL), has attracted increasing attention due to its intrinsic ability to inactivate pathogens without the involvement of exogenous photosensitizers. Many microbial cells are highly sensitive to killing by blue light (400?470 nm) due to accumulation of naturally occurring photosensitizers such as porphyrins and flavins. The ideal wavelength range of blue light should be the one that is selectively absorbed by the chromophores in pathogenic bacteria but not those in host cells. The lethality of blue light for bacteria has been demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo which can produce a broad-spectrum bactericidal effect on both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria.