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Exposure to ELF- magnetic field promotes restoration of sensori-motor functions in adult rats with hemisection of thoracic spinal cord

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Das S, Kumar S, Jain S, Avelev VD, Mathur R. · 2012

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Exposing spinal-cord-injured rats to a 50 Hz, 17.96 μT magnetic field for 2 hours a day over 6 weeks was associated with faster recovery of movement and bladder control compared with sham-exposed rats.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers studied the effect of a 50 Hz, 17.96 μT magnetic field on rats after a hemisection injury of the T13 spinal cord, measuring locomotor function, motor responses to noxious stimuli, and neuronal excitability. Rats were divided into a sham-exposed group and a group exposed to the magnetic field for 2 hours per day for 6 weeks. The magnetic-field-exposed group showed a statistically significant improvement in BBB score over the sham control group, and bladder control was dramatically restored earlier than in the sham group. The researchers suggested that this magnetic field exposure promotes recovery of sensori-motor behavior including locomotion and bladder control in spinal-cord-injured rats.

Why This Matters

The study compared two groups of rats, both with a T13 spinal cord hemisection injury: one group received sham exposure and the other received magnetic field exposure for 2 hours per day over 6 weeks. Locomotor recovery was tracked using the BBB score, which showed statistically significant improvement in the magnetic-field group over the sham control group. Tail flick latency and threshold of tail flick also improved earlier in the magnetic-field group. Threshold of simple vocalization gradually restored in the magnetic-field group. The survival rate was 100% in the magnetic-field-exposed group, compared with 90% in the sham-exposed group. The threshold of H-reflex was reduced on the ipsilateral side compared with the contralateral side in both the sham and magnetic-field groups.

Exposure Details

Magnetic Field
0.01796 mT
Source/Device
50 Hz
Exposure Duration
2 h/d x 6wks

Exposure Context

This study used 0.01796 mT for magnetic fields:

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 Exposure Level in ContextStudy Exposure Level in ContextThis study: 0.01796 mTExtreme Concern - 5 mGFCC Limit - 2,000 mGEffects observed in the Extreme Concern range (Building Biology)FCC limit is 11 times higher than this level
A logarithmic frequency spectrum from 10 Hz to 100 GHz showing where this study's 50 Hz exposure sits relative to common EMF sources.Where This Frequency Sits on the EMF SpectrumELFVLFLF / MFHF / VHFUHFSHFmm10 Hz100 GHzThis study: 50 HzCell phones~1 GHzWiFi2.4 GHz5G mm28 GHzLogarithmic scale

Study Details

In the present study, the effect of (50 Hz), low-intensity (17.96 μT) magnetic field (MF) exposure of rats after-hemisection of T13 spinal cord (hSCI) was investigated on sensori-motor and locomotor functions.

Rats were divided into hSCI (sham-exposed) and hSCI+MF (MF: 2 h/d X 6 weeks) groups. Besides their g...

It is found that, in the hSCI+MF group, a statistically significant improvement over the hSCI contr...

The results of our study suggest that extremely low-frequency (50 Hz), low-intensity (17.96 μT) MF exposure for 2 h/d x 6wks promotes recovery of sensori-motor behavior including locomotion and bladder control both in terms of temporal pattern and magnitude in hemisection injury of (T13) spinal cord rats.

Cite This Study
Das S, Kumar S, Jain S, Avelev VD, Mathur R. (2012). Exposure to ELF- magnetic field promotes restoration of sensori-motor functions in adult rats with hemisection of thoracic spinal cord Electromagn Biol Med. 31(3):180-194, 2012.
Show BibTeX
@article{s_2012_exposure_to_elf_magnetic_239,
  author = {Das S and Kumar S and Jain S and Avelev VD and Mathur R.},
  title = {Exposure to ELF- magnetic field promotes restoration of sensori-motor functions in adult rats with hemisection of thoracic spinal cord},
  year = {2012},
  doi = {10.3109/15368378.2012.695706},
  url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/15368378.2012.695706},
}
DOI: 10.3109/15368378.2012.695706

Cited By (32 papers)

Quick Questions About This Study

The study used an extremely low-frequency 50 Hz magnetic field at an intensity of 17.96 μT.
Rats in the magnetic-field group were exposed for 2 hours per day over 6 weeks.
Complete bladder control was dramatically restored earlier in the magnetic-field group than in the sham-exposed group.
The researchers suggested that this exposure promotes recovery of sensori-motor behavior including locomotion and bladder control in rats with a T13 spinal cord hemisection injury.
Recovery was assessed using BBB score for locomotion, tail flick latency, threshold of tail flick, threshold of simple vocalization, and H-reflex neuronal excitability.