Extremely Low-Frequency Magnetic Exposure Appears to Have No Effect on Pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease in Aluminum-Overloaded Rat

Abstract

Objective:Extremely low-frequency magnetic field (ELF-MF) has been reported to be of potential pathogenetic relevance to Alzheimer's disease (AD) for years. However, evidence confirming this function remains inconclusive. Chronic Al treatment has been identified as a contributing factor to cognitive function impairment in AD. This study aims to examine whether or not ELF-MF and Al have synergistic effects toward AD pathogenesis by investigating the effects of ELF-MF with or without chronic Al treatment on SD rats.Methods:Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were subjected one of the following treatments: sham (control group), oral Al (Al group), ELF-MF (100 μT at 50 Hz) with oral Al (MF+Al group), or ELF-MF (100 μT at 50 Hz) without oral Al (MF group).Results:After 12 wk of treatment, oral Al treatment groups (Al and MF+Al groups) showed learning and memory impairment as well as morphological hallmarks, including neuronal cell loss and high density of amyloid-β (Aβ) in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. ELF-MF without Al treatment showed no significant effect on AD pathogenesis. ELF-MF+Al treatment induced no more damage than Al treatment did.Conclusions:Our results showed no evidence of any association between ELF-MF exposure (100 μT at 50 Hz) and AD, and ELF-MF exposure does not influence the pathogenesis of AD induced by Al overload. © 2013 Zhang et al.