Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 9, 2025
Treating Clinical Depression with Repetitive Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Using the Brainsway H1-coil
Published on: October 4, 2016
The Anti-Depressive Effects of Ultra-High Static Magnetic Field
Yue Lv1,2, Yixiang Fan1,2, Xiaofei Tian3
1High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Key Laboratory of High Magnetic Field and Ion Beam Physical Biology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, China.
Background:
Ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has obvious advantages in acquiring high-resolution images. 7 T MRI has been clinically approved and 21.1 T MRI has also been tested on rodents.
Purpose:
To examine the effects of ultra-high field on mice behavior and neuron activity.
Study Type:
Prospective, animal model.
Animal Model:
Ninety-eight healthy C57BL/6 mice and 18 depression model mice.
Field Strength:
11.1-33.0 T SMF (static magnetic field) for 1 hour and 7 T for 8 hours. Gradients were not on and no imaging sequence was used.
Assessment:
Open field test, elevated plus maze, three-chambered social test, Morris water maze, tail suspension test, sucrose preference test, blood routine, biochemistry examinations, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immunofluorescent assay.
Statistical Tests:
The normality of the data was assessed by Shapiro-Wilk test, followed by Student's t test or the Mann-Whitney U test for statistical significance. The statistical cut-off line is P < 0.05.
Results:
Compared to the sham group, healthy C57/6 mice spent more time in the center area (35.12 ± 4.034, increased by 47.19%) in open field test and improved novel index (0.6201 ± 0.02522, increased by 16.76%) in three-chambered social test a few weeks after 1 hour 11.1-33.0 T SMF exposure. 7 T SMF exposure for 8 hours alleviated the depression state of depression mice, including less immobile time in tail suspension test (58.32% reduction) and higher sucrose preference (increased by 8.80%). Brain tissue analysis shows that 11.1-33.0 T and 7 T SMFs can increase oxytocin by 164.65% and 36.03%, respectively. Moreover, the c-Fos level in hippocampus region was increased by 14.79%.
Data Conclusion:
11.1-33.0 T SMFs exposure for 1 hour or 7 T SMF exposure for 8 hours did not have detrimental effects on healthy or depressed mice. Instead, these ultra-high field SMFs have anti-depressive potentials.
Evidence Level:
1 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 1.
