title: Effects of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (100μT) on behaviors in rats.
abstract: Recently, extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) have received considerable attentions for their potential pathogenicity. In the present study, we explored the effects of ELF-EMF on behaviors of adult male rats. Sixty adult male rats were randomly divided into two groups, the sham exposure group and the 50Hz/100μT ELF-EMF exposure group. During the 24 weeks exposure, body weight, as well as food and water intake were recorded. Results showed that food and water intake and the body weight of the rats were not affected by the exposure. After 24 weeks exposure, open field test and elevated plus maze were conducted to evaluate the anxiety-like behavior, the tail suspension test and forced swim test were conducted to evaluate depression-like behavior and Morris water maze and fear conditioning tests were used to evaluate the cognitive and memory ability. Exposure to ELF-EMF did not induce any anxiety-like or depression-like behaviors compared with the sham exposure. Moreover, the cognitive and memory ability was not impaired by the ELF-EMF exposure. Furthermore, ELF-EMF exposure did not affect the morphology and histology of the brain. In conclusion, 24 weeks exposure to 50Hz/100μT ELF-EMF had no effect on the behaviors of the adult male rats.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Gene Therapy Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jinsheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: High Voltage Research Institute, China Electric Power Research Institute, Wuhan 430074, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yemao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: High Voltage Research Institute, China Electric Power Research Institute, Wuhan 430074, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xingfa
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: High Voltage Research Institute, China Electric Power Research Institute, Wuhan 430074, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jiangong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Gene Therapy Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guoran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ruan
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Gene Therapy Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Sandip
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chaugai
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Gene Therapy Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: chenchen@tjh.tjmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Gene Therapy Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dao Wen
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety; D001835:Body Weight; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D003071:Cognition; D003863:Depression; D004326:Drinking; D004435:Eating; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D051381:Rats
keywords: Behaviors; ELF-EMF; Electromagnetic field; Extremely low frequency