RKIP-Mediated NF-κB Signaling is involved in ELF-MF-mediated improvement in AD rat

In a previous study, we reported the positive effects of extremely low frequency electromagnetic field (ELF-MF) exposure on Alzheimer's disease (AD) rats; however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. In addition, we found that Raf-1 kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP) was downregulated by microwave exposure in the rat hippocampus. Our hypothesis was that RKIP-mediated NF-κB pathway signaling is involved in the effect of ELF-MF on the AD rat. In this study, D-galactose intraperitoneal (50 mg/kg/d for 42 d) and Aβ_25-35 hippocampal (5 μL/unilateral, bilateral, single-dose) injection were implemented to establish an AD rat model. Animals were exposed to 50 Hz and 400 µT ELF-MF for 60 continuous days. The spatial memory ability of the rat was then tested using the Morris water maze. Protein expression and interaction were detected by western blotting and co-immunoprecipitation for RKIP-mediated NF-κB pathway factors. The results showed that ELF-MF exposure partially improved the cognitive disorder, upregulated the levels of RKIP, TAK1, and the RKIP/TAK1 interaction, but downregulated p-IKK levels in AD rats. These results indicated that RKIP-mediated NF-κB pathway signaling plays an important role in the ELF-MF exposure-mediated improvements in the AD rat. Our study suggested that ELF-MF exposure might have a potential therapeutic value for AD. Further in depth studies are required in the future.