Effect of ELF-EMF on cognitive functions, analgesia, and oxidative stress in rats with PTZ-induced epilepsy

This study aimed to examine the impacts of extremely low-frequency (ELF)-electromagnetic field (EMF) on cognitive functions and analgesia in terms of total oxidant status (TOS) and total antioxidant status (TAS) in the experimental pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced epilepsy model. Twenty-four Wistar albino male rats were categorized into four groups: sham, EMF, PTZ, and EMF+PTZ. The rats were repeatedly exposed to alternating 50-Hz and 5-mT EMF for 165 min a day for 7 days. Epileptic seizures were induced with PTZ. The levels of oxidative stress markers were measured. Univariate multifactorial one-way analysis of variance and post hoc Tukey's test were used for pairwise comparisons between groups. A statistically significant difference was observed in the learning and short-term memory levels in the EMF + PTZ group compared with the PTZ group (<i>p</i> < 0.001). Analgesia latency statistically significantly increased in the ELF-EMF and ELF-EMF+PTZ groups compared with both the control and epilepsy groups (<i>p</i> < 0.001). A statistically significant increase in TOS was found in the prefrontal cortex in the PTZ group compared with the sham group (<i>p</i> < 0.001). Also, TOS statistically significantly increased in the hippocampus in both PTZ and ELF-EMF+ PTZ groups compared with the sham group (<i>p</i> < 0.001). ELF-EMF decreased the increased TOS in the hippocampus of rats in the PTZ group.