Brief exposure to 60 Hz magnetic fields improves sexually dimorphic spatial learning performance in the meadow vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus

Abstract

1. This study examined spatial learning and memory in breeding adult male and female meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus, and the effects of brief exposure to weak (0.1 mT or 1.0 Gauss rms) 60 Hz magnetic fields on their spatial performance. 2. There were significant sex differences in the spatial performance of the polygynous meadow voles. Reproductive male voles displayed significantly better spatial learning and retention than reproductive females in a Morris water maze task, whereby individual voles had to learn and remember the location of a submerged hidden platform using extramaze visual cues. Males showed over 9 days of daily blocks of 4 trials both a faster rate and greater overall level of acquisition (shorter latency to find hidden platform) of the spatial task than did the females. 3. Brief (maximum 5 min) exposure to 60 Hz magnetic fields during acquisition of the water maze task significantly enhanced the spatial performance of both the male and female meadow voles. Females showed a relatively greater facilitation of spatial acquisition and retention than did the males, resulting by day 9 in the elimination of sex differences in water maze performance. 4. The time-varying magnetic fields may be : (i) functioning as orientation cues and providing directional cues, and/or (ii) affecting neuromodulatory systems that are involved in the mediation of spatial learning and memory. Exposure to weak time-varying magnetic fields has been shown to attenuate the activity of endogenous opioid systems, enhance protein kinase C (PKC) activity, and alter calcium ion flux. These effects have been shown to affect spatial learning and memory and are consistent with an enhancement of water maze performance.