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Biophotons (from the Greek language βίος meaning "life" and φῶς meaning "light") are photons of light in the ultraviolet and visible light range that are produced by a biological system. They are non-thermal in origin, and the emission of biophotons is technically a type of bioluminescence, though the term "bioluminescence" is generally reserved for higher luminance systems (typically with emitted light visible to the naked eye, using biochemical means such as luciferin/luciferase). The term biophoton used in this narrow sense should not be confused with the broader field of biophotonics, which studies the general interaction of light with biological systems.
Biological tissues typically produce an observed irradiance in the visible and ultraviolet frequencies ranging from 10−17 to 10−23 W/cm2 (approx 1–1000 photons/cm2/second). This low level of light has a much weaker intensity than the visible light produced by bioluminescence, but biophotons are detectable above the background of thermal radiation that is emitted by tissues at their normal temperature. Biophoton emission is also known as "ultraweak photon emission" (UPE).
While detection of biophotons has been reported by several groups, hypotheses that such biophotons indicate the state of biological tissues and facilitate a form of cellular communication are still under investigation, (2025). 9788130803579, Research Signpost. ISBN 9788130803579 Alexander Gurwitsch, who discovered the existence of biophotons, was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1941 for his work.
The typical observed Irradiance of biological tissues in the visible and ultraviolet frequencies ranges from 10−17 to 10−23 W/cm2 with a photon count from a few to nearly 1000 photons per cm2 per second in the range of 200 nm to 800 nm.
Biophotons have been also observed in the roots of stressed plants. In healthy cells, the concentration of ROS is minimized by a system of biological antioxidants. However, heat shock and other stresses changes the equilibrium between oxidative stress and antioxidant activity, for example, the rapid rise in temperature induces biophoton emission by ROS.
In the 1970s Fritz-Albert Popp and his research group at the University of Marburg (Germany) showed that the spectral distribution of the emission fell over a wide range of wavelengths, from 200 to 750 nm. Popp's work on the biophoton emission's statistical properties, namely the claims on its coherence, was criticised for lack of scientific rigour.
One biophoton mechanism focuses on injured cells that are under higher levels of oxidative stress, which is one source of light, and can be deemed to constitute a "distress signal" or background chemical process, but this mechanism is yet to be demonstrated. The difficulty of teasing out the effects of any supposed biophotons amid the other numerous chemical interactions between cells makes it difficult to devise a testable hypothesis. A 2010 review article discusses various published theories on this kind of signaling.
The hypothesis of cellular communication by biophotons was highly criticised for failing to explain how cells could detect photonic signals several orders of magnitude weaker than the natural background illumination.
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