Spatial learning deficit in the rat after exposure to a 60 Hz magnetic field.

Rats were trained in ten daily sessions to perform in a 12-arm radial maze, which is a behavioral test for spatial memory functions. Exposure to a 60 Hz magnetic field (45 min, 0.75 mT) immediately before each training session retarded learning significantly. Pretreatment with the cholinergic agonist physostigmine before magnetic field exposure reversed the field's effect on spatial learning. Data from this experiment indicate that magnetic field-induced spatial learning deficit is caused by the effect of the field on cholinergic systems.

[1]  R. Jaffard,et al.  In vivo modulation of septo-hippocampal cholinergic activity in mice: relationships with spatial reference and working memory performance , 1989, Behavioural Brain Research.

[2]  R. Stevens.  Scopolamine impairs spatial maze performance in rats , 1981, Physiology & Behavior.

[3]  R. Jaffard,et al.  Differential hippocampal and cortical cholinergic activation during the acquisition, retention, reversal and extinction of a spatial discrimination in an 8-arm radial maze by mice , 1988, Behavioural Brain Research.

[4]  H. Fibiger,et al.  Learning and memory deficits after lesions of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis: Reversal by physostigmine , 1985, Neuroscience.

[5]  R. Jaffard,et al.  The durations of hippocampal and cortical cholinergic activation induced by spatial discrimination testing of mice in an eight-arm radial maze decrease as a function of acquisition. , 1989, Behavioral and neural biology.

[6]  D. Jenden,et al.  Further characterizations of the nature of the behavioral and neurochemical effects of lesions to the nucleus basalis of meynert in the rat , 1985, Neurobiology of Aging.

[7]  R. Beninger,et al.  Differential effects of scopolamine on working and reference memory of rats in the radial maze , 1984, Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior.

[8]  D. Olton,et al.  Behavior alters the uptake of [3h]choline into acetylcholinergic neurons of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis and medial septal area , 1984, Behavioural Brain Research.

[9]  E. Levin.  Psychopharmacological effects in the radial-arm maze , 1988, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.

[10]  R. Stevens,et al.  Effects of scopolamine on radial maze performance in rats , 1981, Physiology & Behavior.

[11]  A W Guy,et al.  Effects of a 60 Hz magnetic field on central cholinergic systems of the rat. , 1993, Bioelectromagnetics.

[12]  L. Jarrard,et al.  Behavioral and neurochemical effects of intraventricular AF64A administration in rats , 1984, Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior.

[13]  L. Jarrard,et al.  Scopolamine impairs performance of a place and cue task in rats. , 1982, Behavioral and neural biology.

[14]  T. Durkin.  Central cholinergic pathways and learning and memory processes: presynaptic aspects. , 1989, Comparative biochemistry and physiology. A, Comparative physiology.