Maternal stress induced anxiety-like behavior exacerbated by electromagnetic fields radiation in female rats offspring

Authors: Hosseini E, Farid Habibi M, Babri S, Mohaddes G, Abkhezr H, Heydari H

Year: 2022 Aug 23

Category: Neuroscience

Journal: PLoS One

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273206

URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0273206

Abstract

Overview

The study investigates how prenatal stress and exposure to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) affect anxiety-like behavior and neural pathways in offspring.

Findings

  • Subjects included 24 female rats, divided into four groups: Control, Stress, EMF, and EMF/S (exposure to both stress and EMF).
  • Behavioral tests showed increased anxiety levels across all groups, with significant exacerbation in the EMF/S group.
  • Biological analyses revealed varied effects on serotonin, corticosterone levels, and other molecular markers like PNMDAr2/NMDAr2 ratio and 24(S)-hydroxy cholesterol.

Conclusion

The findings suggest that ELF-EMF can potentially enhance anxiety-like behaviors, influenced further by factors such as prenatal stress. This highlights the interaction between environmental EMFs and biological stress responses.

EMF prenatal stress anxiety behavior hippocampus rat offspring
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