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Melatonin protects rat cerebellar granule cells against electromagnetic field-induced increases in Na+ currents through intracellular Ca2+ release.

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Liu DD, Ren Z, Yang G, Zhao QR, Mei YA. · 2014

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Melatonin protected rat cerebellar granule cells against ELF-EMF-induced increases in sodium currents through calcium release mechanisms.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers exposed rat cerebellar granule cells to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields for 60 minutes and measured sodium channel currents. ELF-EMF exposure significantly increased Nav current densities by 62.5 percent. Melatonin at 5 μM inhibited this ELF-EMF-induced increase in sodium currents. The protective effect of melatonin involved MT2 receptors and calcium release triggered by calcium influx.

Why This Matters

ELF-EMF shifted the sodium channel activation curve toward hyperpolarization, but melatonin did not reverse this shift. ELF-EMF increased phosphorylated PKA levels, and melatonin did not reduce this increase. A calmodulin inhibitor greatly reduced melatonin's inhibitory effect on sodium currents. Melatonin did not raise basal calcium levels but enhanced calcium elevation evoked by high potassium stimulation.

Study Details

we investigated the effects of MT on extremely low‐frequency electromagnetic field (ELF‐EMF)‐induced Nav activity in rat cerebellar granule cells (GCs).

Exposing cerebellar GCs to ELF‐EMF for 60 min. significantly increased the Nav current (INa) densiti...

Our data show for the first time that MT protects against neuronal INa that result from ELF-EMF exposure through Ca2+ influx-induced Ca2+ release.

Cite This Study
Liu DD, Ren Z, Yang G, Zhao QR, Mei YA. (2014). Melatonin protects rat cerebellar granule cells against electromagnetic field-induced increases in Na+ currents through intracellular Ca2+ release. J Cell Mol Med. 2014 Feb 18. doi: 10.1111/jcmm.12250.
Show BibTeX
@article{dd_2014_melatonin_protects_rat_cerebellar_1562,
  author = {Liu DD and Ren Z and Yang G and Zhao QR and Mei YA. },
  title = {Melatonin protects rat cerebellar granule cells against electromagnetic field-induced increases in Na+ currents through intracellular Ca2+ release.},
  year = {2014},
  doi = {10.1111/jcmm.12250},
  url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcmm.12250},
}
DOI: 10.1111/jcmm.12250

Cited By (15 papers)

Quick Questions About This Study

The study used rat cerebellar granule cells.
Cells were exposed to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields for 60 minutes.
Melatonin at 5 μM inhibited the ELF-EMF-induced increase in sodium currents.
The protective effect was mediated by MT2 receptors, as an MT2 agonist mimicked melatonin and an MT2 antagonist blocked it.
Melatonin did not increase basal calcium levels but significantly elevated calcium levels evoked by high potassium stimulation. The melatonin-induced calcium increase was reduced by the ryanodine receptor blocker ruthenium red.