Linda S. St-Pierre

Growth of injected melanoma cells is suppressed by whole body exposure to specific spatial-temporal configurations of weak intensity magnetic fields

Purpose: To measure the effect of exposure to a specific spatial-temporal, hysiologically-patterned electromagnetic field presented using different geometric configurations on the growth of experimental tumours in mice. Methods: C57b male mice were inoculated subcutaneously with B16-BL6 melanoma cells in two blocks of experiments separated by six months (to control for the effects of geomagnetic field). The mice were exposed to the same time-varying electromagnetic field nightly for 3 h in one of six spatial configurations or two control conditions and tumour growth assessed. Results: Mice exposed to the field that was rotated through the three spatial dimensions and through all three planes every 2 sec did not grow tumours after 38 days. However, the mice in the sham-field and reference controls showed massive tumours after 38 days. Tumour growth was also affected by the intensity of the field, with mice exposed to a weak intensity field (1–5 nT) forming smaller tumours than mice exposed to sham or stronger, high intensity (2–5 μT) fields. Immunochemistry of tumours from those mice exposed to the different intensity fields suggested that alterations in leukocyte infiltration or vascularisation could contribute to the differences in tumour growth. Conclusions: Exposure to specific spatial-temporal regulated electromagnetic field configurations had potent effects on the growth of experimental tumours in mice.

Altered blood chemistry and hippocampal histomorphology in adult rats following prenatal exposure to physiologically-patterned, weak (50-500 nanoTesla range) magnetic fields.

Purpose: To discern changes in blood chemistry, cerebral sizes, and hippocampal cytomorphology in adult male and female albino Wistar rats that had been exposed during their entire prenatal development to one of two patterns of magnetic fields and one of four intensities: Very low 5 – 20 nT; low 30 – 50 nT; medium 90 – 580 nT; and high 590 nT to 1.2 microT. Materials and methods: A total of 48 pregnant females were exposed to either a repetitive frequency-modulated magnetic field or to a complex sequence of 50, 200-msec physiologically-patterned fields. As adults blood, cerebral, and histomorphological data were obtained from the 137 rats that had been exposed to one of these eight conditions. Results: Compared to other groups, adult rats that had been exposed prenatally to the physiologically-patterned magnetic fields at the low (30 – 50 nT) and medium (90 – 580 nT) intensities exhibited peak elevations of aminotransaminase, glucose, and uric acid. Numbers of cytometric anomalies were also significantly elevated within regions of the hippocampus known for neuronal neogenesis in adults. Conclusions: The results suggest that a common factor in cellular adhesion or plasticity might be permanently altered by prenatal exposure to a narrow intensity of a series of physiologically-patterned magnetic fields.

Experimental Induction of Intermale Aggressive Behavior in Limbic Epileptic Rats by Weak, Complex Magnetic Fields: Implications for Geomagnetic Activity and the Modern Habitat?

In three separate experiments, groups (4/group) of male rats with limbic epilepsy were exposed for 80 min every 24 hr during the midscotophase for 24 successive days to sham-field conditions or to one of four complex patterns of magnetic fields whose average intensities ranged between 20 nT to 500 nT. The numbers of episodes of boxing, biting, mounting, eating, drinking and grooming were then recorded each night during the latter 20 min. Moderately strong statistically significant interactions occurred between the presence or absence of the field and the pattern of the field explained 25% and 50% of the variance in the numbers of biting and boxing responses, respectively. Other behaviors were not affected. The results suggest that group aggression can be increased or decreased as a function of the temporal characteristics and morphology (shape) of the applied magnetic field.

Attenuation of epilepsy-induced brain damage in the temporal cortices of rats by exposure to LTP-patterned magnetic fields.

To test the feasibility that whole body exposure to structurally matched, physiologically patterned magnetic fields could reduce cellular injury within specific regions of the brain, young rats were seized with lithium and pilocarpine and then exposed to a sham field or to one of three computer-generated magnetic field patterns. They were digitized equivalents of the pulsed patterns of electric current known to produce long-term potential (LTP) in slices of hippocampus or entorhinal cortices. Histological analyses of their brains as adults indicated the earlier exposure to the LTP-patterned fields produced a robust reduction of damage within the primary and association areas of the right temporal cortices and the CA1/CA2 hippocampal fields. The results suggest physiologically patterned magnetic fields could be employed to target specific nuclei anywhere within the brain by matching intrinsic activity.

Extreme obesity in female rats following prepuberal induction of lithium–pilocarpine seizures and a single injection of acepromazine

Seizures were induced in female Wistar albino rats at either 35 or 55 days of age with a single systemic injection of lithium (3 mEq/kg) and pilocarpine (30 mg/kg); the rats were then treated with the atypical neuroleptic acepromazine (25 mg/kg). These rats manifested progressive weight gain for the rest of their lives. The effect was conspicuous by casual observation 6 weeks after treatment and occurred primarily in those rats that later developed spontaneous seizures. After 1 year, the rats were obese (>1000 g). Such weight gains, associated with almost three times the serum triglyceride levels, were not observed in male rats and have not been observed in hundreds of female rats that received this treatment as adults. Single postseizure injections of ketamine rather than acepromazine did not produce this obesity; the weights of these rats were similar to those of normal littermates. These results indicate that a single injection of a neuroleptic during limbic seizures before puberty can produce neuronal alterations that contribute to a lifetime of obesity.

Conspicuous histomorphological anomalies in the hippocampal formation of rats exposed prenatally to a complex sequenced magnetic field within the nanoTesla range.

The brains of adult rats, exposed prenatally to one of four intensities (between 10 nanoTesla and 1.2 microTesla) of either a frequency-modulated magnetic field or a complex sequenced field designed to affect brain development, were examined histologically. Although from each intensity some rats that had been exposed to the complex sequenced magnetic field showed minor anomalies, those exposed to intensities between 30 nT and 180 nT exhibited conspicuous anomalous organizations of cells within the hippocampal formation. In other studies, rats that had been exposed during their entire prenatal development to the complex sequenced field displayed significantly more activity in the open field and poorer spatial memory during maze learning. Photomicrographs are shown of one conspicuous morphological anomaly within the right hippocampus of an adult rat exposed prenatally to the complex sequenced magnetic field with intensities between .3 mG and .5 mG (30 nT to 50 nT). The results suggest that complex magnetic fields, whose temporal structures approach the time constants of normal biochemical processes, can permanently alter the development of the brain.

Geophysical Variables and Behavior: Xci. Ambulatory Behavior in Rats following Prenatal Exposures to Complex Magnetic Fields Designed to Interact with Genetic Expression

A total of 45 litters were exposed during their entire prenatal development to one of two complex patterns of magnetic fields whose strengths varied within one of four intensity ranges between 10 nT and 1000 nT or to sham-field conditions. The litters exposed to the most complex pattern, composed of 50 200-msec. presentations of different pulses for 10 sec. every 50 sec., displayed more ambulation in an open field at 21 days of age than the litters that had been exposed continuously to a repetitive frequency-modulated field or to sham-field conditions. This treatment explained 25% of the variance in the numbers of squares traversed. The results suggest that complexity of the applied magnetic field during prenatal development may be more important than intensity for permanently affecting neuronal organization and behavior.

Case report: A prototypical experience of ‘poltergeist’ activity, conspicuous quantitative electroencephalographic patterns, and sLORETA profiles – suggestions for intervention

People who report objects moving in their presence, unusual sounds, glows around other people, and multiple sensed presences but do not meet the criteria for psychiatric disorders have been shown to exhibit electrical anomalies over the right temporal lobes. This article reports the striking quantitative electroencephalography, sLORETA results, and experimental elicitation of similar subjective experiences in a middle-aged woman who has been distressed by these classic phenomena that began after a head injury. She exhibited a chronic electrical anomaly over the right temporoinsular region. The rotation of a small pinwheel near her while she ‘concentrated’ upon it was associated with increased coherence between the left and right temporal lobes and concurrent activation of the left prefrontal region. The occurrence of the unusual phenomena and marked ‘sadness’ was associated with increased geomagnetic activity; she reported a similar mood when these variations were simulated experimentally. Our quantitative measurements suggest people displaying these experiences and possible anomalous energies can be viewed clinically and potentially treated.

Insidious weight gain in prepubertal seized rats treated with an atypical neuroleptic: the role of food consumption, fluid consumption, and spontaneous ambulatory activity.

Extreme obesity slowly develops in female rats over the months following seizures induced by a single systemic injection of lithium and pilocarpine if the resulting limbic seizures are treated with the atypical neuroleptic acepromazine (but not with ketamine). To discern the contributions from food consumption, water consumption, and (daytime and nighttime) activity to this weight gain, these behaviors were monitored for 4 months, about 2 months after seizure induction. The results indicated that the rats that underwent the obesity procedure exhibited 50% heavier body weights and consumed 42% more food than the reference group, which included rats that had been induced to seize but treated with ketamine. There were no statistically significant differences between groups with respect to either water consumption or (daytime or nighttime) activity. Factor analyses of data for individual rats verified the dissociation between activity and weight gain for the obese rats. The results suggest that the progressive weight gains are centrally mediated and are not secondary to diminished activity or altered fluid consumption.

The Brain Matrix and Multifocal Brain Damage following a Single Injection of Ketamine in Young Adult Rats: Conspicuous Changes in Old Age

Male rats were seized with lithium and pilocarpine and then injected within 30 min. with either acepromazine or ketamine. These rats as well as age-matched normal rats were observed daily for one year. The rats which had received the ketamine after the seizures were significantly heavier than either the normal rats or the other group of seized rats. The bulk of this increased weight was due to the marked increase in white, extremely dense adipose tissue. Compared to the acepromazine-treated rats, the ketamine-treated rats did not exhibit spontaneous seizures and exhibited cerebral widths comparable to normal rats. These results suggest that the multifocal, graded neuronal loss associated with this seizure model may allow other “configurations” to emerge that can support normal behaviors as well as new characteristics.