Examining the Effects of Extremely Low-frequency Magnetic Fields on Cognitive Functions and Functional Brain Markers in Aged Mice

Overview

Journal Sci Rep

Specialty Science

Date 2025 Mar 12

PMID 40069380

Authors

Senka Hadzibegovic

Olivier Nicole

Vojislav Andelkovic

Florence Poulletier de Gannes

Annabelle Hurtier

Isabelle Lagroye

Bruno Bontempi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Extremely low-frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MFs) are ubiquitously present in various environments of everyday life. While surveys from the World Health Organization (WHO) have not demonstrated the existence of ELF-MF-induced harmful consequences in healthy subjects, whether older adults are more vulnerable to the effects of residential and occupational ELF-MF exposure, and therefore may be at risk, remains unsettled. Here, we explored this potential health issue by investigating, in aged mice, the effects of chronic exposure to ELF-MFs (50 Hz ELF-MF at 1 mT for 8 h/day, 5 days/week for 12 consecutive weeks) on cognitive functions and expression profile of brain markers typically associated with aggravated aging or the development of Alzheimer`s disease (AD). Sham-exposed mice showed a significant age-related decline in spatial memory functions compared to young adult mice. However, this expected pattern was neither exacerbated nor counteracted by chronic exposure to ELF-MFs. No difference in hippocampal expression of APP-695, Aβ, S100b and GFAP proteins or in the pTau/Tau ratio was observed between sham- and ELF-MF-exposed aged mice, suggesting that chronic exposure to ELF-MFs does not aggravate aging and associated neuroinflammation, or promote pathological pathways involved in the initiation of AD. Because care should be taken in extrapolating these results to older adults with various comorbidities, applying current exposure limits to existing or new sensitive ELF-MF locations is recommended.

References

Clelland C, Choi M, Romberg C, Clemenson Jr G, Fragniere A, Tyers P . A functional role for adult hippocampal neurogenesis in spatial pattern separation. Science. 2009; 325(5937):210-3. PMC: 2997634. DOI: 10.1126/science.1173215. View

Currais A, Fischer W, Maher P, Schubert D . Intraneuronal protein aggregation as a trigger for inflammation and neurodegeneration in the aging brain. FASEB J. 2017; 31(1):5-10. PMC: 6191004. DOI: 10.1096/fj.201601184. View

Kilkenny C, Browne W, Cuthill I, Emerson M, Altman D . Animal research: reporting in vivo experiments--the ARRIVE guidelines. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2011; 31(4):991-3. PMC: 3070981. DOI: 10.1038/jcbfm.2010.220. View

Iqbal K, Grundke-Iqbal I . Neurofibrillary pathology leads to synaptic loss and not the other way around in Alzheimer disease. J Alzheimers Dis. 2002; 4(3):235-8. DOI: 10.3233/jad-2002-4313. View

Hu Y, Lai J, Wan B, Liu X, Zhang Y, Zhang J . Long-term exposure to ELF-MF ameliorates cognitive deficits and attenuates tau hyperphosphorylation in 3xTg AD mice. Neurotoxicology. 2016; 53:290-300. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuro.2016.02.012. View

Ciechanover A, Kwon Y . Degradation of misfolded proteins in neurodegenerative diseases: therapeutic targets and strategies. Exp Mol Med. 2015; 47:e147. PMC: 4351408. DOI: 10.1038/emm.2014.117. View

Radulescu C, Cerar V, Haslehurst P, Kopanitsa M, Barnes S . The aging mouse brain: cognition, connectivity and calcium. Cell Calcium. 2021; 94:102358. DOI: 10.1016/j.ceca.2021.102358. View

Brito D, Esteves F, Rajado A, Silva N, Araujo I, Braganca J . Assessing cognitive decline in the aging brain: lessons from rodent and human studies. NPJ Aging. 2023; 9(1):23. PMC: 10587123. DOI: 10.1038/s41514-023-00120-6. View

Guilloux J, Seney M, Edgar N, Sibille E . Integrated behavioral z-scoring increases the sensitivity and reliability of behavioral phenotyping in mice: relevance to emotionality and sex. J Neurosci Methods. 2011; 197(1):21-31. PMC: 3086134. DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2011.01.019. View

10.

Torres A, Jara C, Olesen M, Tapia-Rojas C . Pathologically phosphorylated tau at S396/404 (PHF-1) is accumulated inside of hippocampal synaptic mitochondria of aged Wild-type mice. Sci Rep. 2021; 11(1):4448. PMC: 7904815. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-83910-w. View

11.

Davis K, Easton A, Eacott M, Gigg J . Episodic-like memory for what-where-which occasion is selectively impaired in the 3xTgAD mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. J Alzheimers Dis. 2012; 33(3):681-98. DOI: 10.3233/JAD-2012-121543. View

12.

Liu B, Liu J, Shi J . SAMP8 Mice as a Model of Age-Related Cognition Decline with Underlying Mechanisms in Alzheimer's Disease. J Alzheimers Dis. 2020; 75(2):385-395. DOI: 10.3233/JAD-200063. View

13.

Lewallen S, Courtright P . Epidemiology in practice: case-control studies. Community Eye Health. 2007; 11(28):57-8. PMC: 1706071. View

14.

Andel R, Crowe M, Feychting M, Pedersen N, Fratiglioni L, Johansson B . Work-related exposure to extremely low-frequency magnetic fields and dementia: results from the population-based study of dementia in Swedish twins. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2010; 65(11):1220-7. PMC: 2954236. DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glq112. View

15.

Hylin M, Kerr A, Holden R . Understanding the Mechanisms of Recovery and/or Compensation following Injury. Neural Plast. 2017; 2017:7125057. PMC: 5415868. DOI: 10.1155/2017/7125057. View

16.

Rissman R . Stress-induced tau phosphorylation: functional neuroplasticity or neuronal vulnerability?. J Alzheimers Dis. 2009; 18(2):453-7. PMC: 2906152. DOI: 10.3233/JAD-2009-1153. View

17.

Selkoe D, Hardy J . The amyloid hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease at 25 years. EMBO Mol Med. 2016; 8(6):595-608. PMC: 4888851. DOI: 10.15252/emmm.201606210. View

18.

Carter S, Scholl M, Almkvist O, Wall A, Engler H, Langstrom B . Evidence for astrocytosis in prodromal Alzheimer disease provided by 11C-deuterium-L-deprenyl: a multitracer PET paradigm combining 11C-Pittsburgh compound B and 18F-FDG. J Nucl Med. 2012; 53(1):37-46. DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.110.087031. View

19.

. Guidelines for limiting exposure to time-varying electric and magnetic fields (1 Hz to 100 kHz). Health Phys. 2010; 99(6):818-36. DOI: 10.1097/HP.0b013e3181f06c86. View

20.

Wu Z, Woods R, Wolfe R, Storey E, Chong T, Shah R . Trajectories of cognitive function in community-dwelling older adults: A longitudinal study of population heterogeneity. Alzheimers Dement (Amst). 2021; 13(1):e12180. PMC: 8088593. DOI: 10.1002/dad2.12180. View