Alleviation of Stress-Induced Damage to Rat Brain Cells by Transcranial Electromagnetic Stimulation

Abstract

The effect of transcranial electromagnetic stimulation on immobilization stress-induced damage to rat brain cells was studied. Electromagnetic stimulation was performed by microwave (λ = 5.6 mm) electromagnetic radiation with a power density of 0.67, 1.3, and 2.0 W/cm2 modulated by low-frequency pulses with a repetition rate of 78 Hz. A statistically significant blocking effect of electromagnetic stimulation on the process of stress-induced damage to brain cells (neurons) was detected in all three cases as the state of the neural network cells before and after stress exposure was compared. The most pronounced anti-stress effect was observed when electromagnetic stimulation with a power of 1.3 W/cm2 was used. A biophysical model of the anti-stress effect is proposed: according to the model, microwave radiation causes a globule–tangle phase transition in albumin, the major protein of the cerebrospinal fluid, and the tryptophan molecule fixed inside the globule is released. Free tryptophan enters the brain with the cerebrospinal fluid flow and enhances serotonin production, which blocks the stress effect, in the neural network of the brain.