[Subcellular mechanisms of the action of weak extra-low frequency electromagnetic fields on the cerebral cortex]

Electron microscopic examinations of the cerebral cortex in rabbits and rats after exposure to weak extra-low electromagnetic fields has detected ultrastructural changes whose degree in different nerve tissue elements was dependent on the duration of irradiation. Single exposure to weak extra-low electromagnetic field resulted only in the glial response of the neocortex, while multiple exposure resulted alternately in the response of glial cells or neuronal bodies. Three days after a single exposure and within 15 days after multiple exposure to electromagnetic field a complete repair of the nervous tissue was observed. No destructive or pathological alterations have been found which suggests the functional character of the reactions induced. Neuro-morphological alterations are of a similar character when induced by weak extra-low electromagnetic fields or other biophysical effects which points to common subcellular mechanisms of nonspecific adaptive reactions.