Behavioral studies with mice exposed to DC and 60-Hz magnetic fields.

Behavioral measures were evaluated in adult CD-1 and LAF-1 mice continuously exposed for 72 h to a 1.5-Tesla (1 T = 10(4) Gauss) homogeneous DC magnetic field, and in LAF-1 mice continuously exposed for 72 h to a sinusoidal 60-Hz, 1.65-mT (rms) homogeneous AC field. Three types of behavioral tests were employed: (1) Memory of an electroshock-motivated passive avoidance task was assessed in animals that had been trained immediately prior to the field exposure. The strength of memory was varied either by altering the strength of the electric footshock during training, or by administering a cerebral protein synthesis inhibitor, anisomycin, at the time of training. (2) General locomotor activity was measured using a quadrant-crossing test immediately after termination of the magnetic field exposure. (3) Sensitivity of the experimental subjects to the seizure-inducing neuropharmacological agent, pentylenetrazole , was assessed immediately after the field exposure on the basis of three criteria: (a) the percentage of subjects exhibiting a generalized seizure, (b) the mean time to seizure, and (c) the mean seizure level. The results of these studies revealed no behavioral alterations in exposed mice relative to controls in any of the experimental tests with the 1.5-T DC field or the 60-Hz, 1.65-mT (rms) AC field.