Frontiers in Neuroscience (Aug 2019)

Low-Frequency Pulsed Magnetic Field Improves Depression-Like Behaviors and Cognitive Impairments in Depressive Rats Mainly via Modulating Synaptic Function

  • Jiajia Yang,
  • Ling Wang,
  • Faqi Wang,
  • Xiaoxuan Tang,
  • Peng Zhou,
  • Rong Liang,
  • Chenguang Zheng,
  • Dong Ming,
  • Dong Ming

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.00820
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

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Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has shown great promise as a medical treatment of depression. The effectiveness of TMS treatment at high frequency has been well investigated; however, low-frequency TMS in depression treatment has rarely been investigated in depression-induced cognitive deficits. Herein, this study was carried out to assess the possible modulatory role of low-frequency pulsed magnetic field (LFPMF) on reversing cognitive impairment in a model of depression induced by chronic unpredictable stress (CUS). Wistar rats were randomly allocated into four groups as follows: a control group (CON), a control applied with LFPMF (CON + LFPMF), a CUS group, and a CUS treated with LFPMF (CUS + LFPMF) group. During 8 weeks of CUS, compared to those in the CON group, animals not only gained less weight but also exhibited anhedonia, anxiety, and cognitive decline in behavioral tests. After 2-week treatment of LFPMF, a 20 mT, 1 Hz magnetic stimulation, it reversed the impairment of spatial cognition as well as hippocampal synaptic function including long-term potentiation and related protein expression. Thus, LFPMF has shown effectively improvements on depressant behavior and cognitive dysfunction in CUS rats, possibly via regulating synaptic function.

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