title: Sudden death in epileptic rats exposed to nocturnal magnetic fields that simulate the shape and the intensity of sudden changes in geomagnetic activity: an experiment in response to Schnabel, Beblo and May.
abstract: To test the hypothesis that sudden unexplained death (SUD) in some epileptic patients is related to geomagnetic activity we exposed rats in which limbic epilepsy had been induced to experimentally produced magnetic fields designed to simulate sudden storm commencements (SSCs). Prior studies with rats had shown that sudden death in groups of rats in which epilepsy had been induced months earlier was associated with the occurrence of SSCs and increased geomagnetic activity during the previous night. Schnabel et al. [(2000) Neurology 54:903-908] found no relationship between SUD in human patients and geomagnetic activity. A total of 96 rats were exposed to either 500, 50, 10-40 nT or sham (less than 10 nT) magnetic fields for 6 min every hour between midnight and 0800 hours (local time) for three successive nights. The shape of the complex, amplitude-modulated magnetic fields simulated the shape and structure of an average SSC. The rats were then seized with lithium and pilocarpine and the mortality was monitored. Whereas 10% of the rats that had been exposed to the sham field died within 24 h, 60% of the rats that had been exposed to the experimental magnetic fields simulating natural geomagnetic activity died (P<.001) during this period. These results suggest that correlational analyses between SUD in epileptic patients and increased geomagnetic activity can be simulated experimentally in epileptic rats and that potential mechanisms might be testable directly.
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario P3E 2C6, Canada. mpersinger@laurentian.ca
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Persinger
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: McKay
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: O'Donovan
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Koren
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology*; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013997:Time Factors
references.citation: Percept Mot Skills. 1999 Oct;89(2):486-92
references.pmid: 10597585
references.citation: Epilepsia. 1995 Jan;36(1):75-8
references.pmid: 8001514
references.citation: Int J Biometeorol. 1995 May;38(4):180-7
references.pmid: 7601551
references.citation: Neurosci Lett. 1998 Nov 20;257(1):13-6
references.pmid: 9857954
references.citation: J Basic Clin Physiol Pharmacol. 2002;13(1):11-21
references.pmid: 12099401
references.citation: Toxicol Lett. 2000 Dec 20;118(1-2):9-19
references.pmid: 11137304
references.citation: Physiol Behav. 1993 May;53(5):849-66
references.pmid: 8511200
references.citation: Life Sci. 1994;54(24):PL457-62
references.pmid: 8196501
references.citation: Neurosci Lett. 1991 Apr 1;124(2):213-5
references.pmid: 1712438
references.citation: Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1972 Mar;32(3):281-94
references.pmid: 4110397
references.citation: Percept Mot Skills. 1997 Apr;84(2):395-402
references.pmid: 9106826
references.citation: Neurosci Lett. 1995 Jun 9;192(2):142-4
references.pmid: 7675323
references.citation: J Cell Biochem. 1993 Apr;51(4):394-403
references.pmid: 8098713
references.citation: Neurosci Lett. 1999 May 14;266(3):209-12
references.pmid: 10465710
references.citation: Brain Res Bull. 1993;30(1-2):153-6
references.pmid: 8420625
references.citation: J Comp Physiol A. 1985 Jul;157(1):23-9
references.pmid: 3837085
references.citation: Comp Biochem Physiol C Toxicol Pharmacol. 2002 Apr;131(4):521-9
references.pmid: 11976067
references.citation: Neurosci Lett. 1997 Mar 7;224(1):53-6
references.pmid: 9132690
references.citation: Int J Neurosci. 1996 Sep;86(3-4):271-80
references.pmid: 8884398
references.citation: Epilepsy Behav. 2001 Dec;2(6):585-591
references.pmid: 12609394
references.citation: Brain Res. 1991 May 31;550(1):115-21
references.pmid: 1888988
references.citation: Ann Neurol. 1989 Aug;26(2):195-203
references.pmid: 2774506
references.citation: Percept Mot Skills. 1995 Aug;81(1):83-93
references.pmid: 8532487
references.citation: Neurology. 2000 Feb 22;54(4):903-8
references.pmid: 10690984
references.citation: Neurosci Lett. 1981 Jul 2;24(2):187-91
references.pmid: 7254715