The effect of the 50 Hz frequency sinusoidal magnetic field on the stress-related behavior of rats

The purpose of this study was to investigate the behavioral changes induced by 50 Hz Sinusoidal Magnetic Field (MF). 72 young adult male Wistar albino rats were used in the study. They were separated into two groups: Control group (C) n=36, MF group n=36. C animals were left in the same conditions with the MF group for 21 days but prevented or avoided any exposure to MF. Anxiety and stress related behavioral changes were investigated by elevated plus maze and holeboard systems. Just before being tested in the maze each animal was tested with the holeboard method in order to separate directed exploration behavior and locomotion activity changes from anxiety related behavior. Data was analyzed by unpaired "t" test on OXSTAT/PC software. In the holeboard system parameters there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups. The anxiety score, which was the ratio between the percentage of entries into open arms to the total time spent on the open arms in the elevated plus maze system, was used as a parameter to evaluate the anxiety related behavior. The anxiety scores of the groups were: C=0.34/spl plusmn/0.38, MF=0.12/spl plusmn/0.18 and MF group anxiety scores were significantly decreased when compared to C group (p<0.01). This results show that MF (50 Hz and 10 mT), can induce stress related anxious behavior in experimental conditions.