The extremely low-frequency magnetic field exposure differently affects the AMPAR and NMDAR subunit expressions in the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex and prefrontal cortex without effects on the rat spatial learning and memory.
Li C, Xie M, Luo F, He C, Wang J, Tan G, Hu Z. · 2014
View Original AbstractChronic exposure to a 50 Hz, 0.5 mT magnetic field changed glutamate receptor subunit expressions in rat brain regions but did not affect spatial learning or memory.
Plain English Summary
Researchers investigated the effects of 14 and 28 days of exposure to a 50 Hz, 0.5 mT extremely low-frequency magnetic field on glutamate receptor subunit expressions and spatial learning and memory in rats. The exposure changed NMDAR and AMPAR subunit levels in the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, and prefrontal cortex in ways that differed by brain region and duration. Despite these receptor changes, neither 14 nor 28 days of exposure affected the rats' spatial reference memory as assessed by water maze.
Why This Matters
Western blotting was used to measure the protein levels of AMPAR and NMDAR subunits in multiple brain regions. After 14 days of exposure, NMDAR subunits GluN2A and GluN2B were significantly increased in the hippocampus, and GluN1 and GluN2A were enhanced in both the entorhinal cortex and prefrontal cortex. AMPAR subunit expression in the hippocampus was not affected at either time point. The researchers concluded that the dynamic and brain-region specific changes in receptor expression induced by the magnetic field were insufficient to influence the rats' spatial learning ability.
Exposure Details
- Magnetic Field
- 0.5 mT
- Source/Device
- 50 Hz
- Exposure Duration
- 4 h/day for 14 or 28 days
Exposure Context
This study used 0.5 mT for magnetic fields:
- 25Kx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.2 mG
- 5Kx above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 1 mG
Building Biology guidelines are practitioner-based limits from real-world assessments. BioInitiative Report recommendations are based on peer-reviewed science. Check Your Exposure to compare your own measurements.
Where This Falls on the Concern Scale
Study Details
In the present study, we investigated the effects of chronic exposure (14 and 28 days) to a 50 Hz, 0.5 mT extremely low-frequency magnetic field (ELF-MF) on the NMDAR and AMPAR subunit expressions and rat spatial learning and memory.
Using the Western blotting method, we found ELF-MF exposure specifically decreased the expressions o...
These results indicate that the dynamic and brain-region specific changes in ionotropic glutamate receptor expression induced by ELF-MF are insufficient to influence the rat spatial learning ability.
Show BibTeX
@article{c_2014_the_extremely_lowfrequency_magnetic_273,
author = {Li C and Xie M and Luo F and He C and Wang J and Tan G and Hu Z.},
title = {The extremely low-frequency magnetic field exposure differently affects the AMPAR and NMDAR subunit expressions in the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex and prefrontal cortex without effects on the rat spatial learning and memory.},
year = {2014},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935114002217},
}