Altered blood chemistry and hippocampal histomorphology in adult rats following prenatal exposure to physiologically-patterned, weak (50–500 nanoTesla range) magnetic fields

Abstract

Purpose: To discern changes in blood chemistry, cerebral sizes, and hippocampal cytomorphology in adult male and female albino Wistar rats that had been exposed during their entire prenatal development to one of two patterns of magnetic fields and one of four intensities: Very low 5 – 20 nT; low 30 – 50 nT; medium 90 – 580 nT; and high 590 nT to 1.2 microT.

Materials and methods: A total of 48 pregnant females were exposed to either a repetitive frequency-modulated magnetic field or to a complex sequence of 50, 200-msec physiologically-patterned fields. As adults blood, cerebral, and histomorphological data were obtained from the 137 rats that had been exposed to one of these eight conditions.

Results: Compared to other groups, adult rats that had been exposed prenatally to the physiologically-patterned magnetic fields at the low (30 – 50 nT) and medium (90 – 580 nT) intensities exhibited peak elevations of aminotransaminase, glucose, and uric acid. Numbers of cytometric anomalies were also significantly elevated within regions of the hippocampus known for neuronal neogenesis in adults.

Conclusions: The results suggest that a common factor in cellular adhesion or plasticity might be permanently altered by prenatal exposure to a narrow intensity of a series of physiologically-patterned magnetic fields.

Keywords:

• Magnetic fields
• blood chemistry
• hippocampus