Acute exposure to a 50 Hz magnetic field impairs consolidation of spatial memory in rats.
This study was planned to evaluate the effect of an exposure to magnetic fields on consolidation and retrieval of hippocampus dependent spatial memory using a water maze. In Experiments 1 and 2, rats were trained in a hidden version (spatial) of water maze task with two blocks of four trials. The retention of spatial memory was evaluated 48 h later. Exposure to a 50 Hz 8 mT, but not 2 mT magnetic fields for 20 min immediately after training impaired retention performance. The same time exposure shortly before retention testing had no effect. In Experiment 3, rats were trained in a cued version of water maze with two blocks of four trials. Exposure to magnetic field at 8 mT for 20 min immediately after training did not impair retention performance. These findings indicate that acute exposure to a 50 Hz magnetic field at 8 mT for short time can impair consolidation of spatial memory.
Jadidi
Majid
M
Laboratory of Learning and Memory, Department and Physiology Research Center, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 35195-163, Semnan, Iran. Jadidim@sem-ums.ac.ir
Firoozabadi
Seyed Mohammad
SM
Rashidy-Pour
Ali
A
Sajadi
Ahmad Ali
AA
Sadeghi
Hassan
H
Taherian
Abbas Ali
AA
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric