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Effects of low frequency electric fields on synaptic integration in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons: implications for power line emissions
The possible cognitive effects of low frequency external electric fields (EFs), such as those generated by power lines, are poorly understood. Their functional consequences for mechanisms at the single neuron level are very difficult to study and identify experimentally, especially in vivo. The majo...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2014
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4191432/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25346660 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2014.00310 |
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author | Cavarretta, Francesco Carnevale, Nicholas T. Tegolo, Domenico Migliore, Michele |
author_facet | Cavarretta, Francesco Carnevale, Nicholas T. Tegolo, Domenico Migliore, Michele |
author_sort | Cavarretta, Francesco |
collection | PubMed |
description | The possible cognitive effects of low frequency external electric fields (EFs), such as those generated by power lines, are poorly understood. Their functional consequences for mechanisms at the single neuron level are very difficult to study and identify experimentally, especially in vivo. The major open problem is that experimental investigations on humans have given inconsistent or contradictory results, making it difficult to estimate the possible effects of external low frequency electric fields on cognitive functions. Here we investigate this issue with realistic models of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons. Our findings suggest how and why EFs, with environmentally observed frequencies and intensities far lower than what is required for direct neural activation, can perturb dendritic signal processing and somatic firing of neurons that are crucially involved in cognitive tasks such as learning and memory. These results show that individual neuronal morphology, ion channel dendritic distribution, and alignment with the electric field are major determinants of overall effects, and provide a physiologically plausible explanation of why experimental findings can appear to be small and difficult to reproduce, yet deserve serious consideration. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4191432 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-41914322014-10-24 Effects of low frequency electric fields on synaptic integration in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons: implications for power line emissions Cavarretta, Francesco Carnevale, Nicholas T. Tegolo, Domenico Migliore, Michele Front Cell Neurosci Neuroscience The possible cognitive effects of low frequency external electric fields (EFs), such as those generated by power lines, are poorly understood. Their functional consequences for mechanisms at the single neuron level are very difficult to study and identify experimentally, especially in vivo. The major open problem is that experimental investigations on humans have given inconsistent or contradictory results, making it difficult to estimate the possible effects of external low frequency electric fields on cognitive functions. Here we investigate this issue with realistic models of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons. Our findings suggest how and why EFs, with environmentally observed frequencies and intensities far lower than what is required for direct neural activation, can perturb dendritic signal processing and somatic firing of neurons that are crucially involved in cognitive tasks such as learning and memory. These results show that individual neuronal morphology, ion channel dendritic distribution, and alignment with the electric field are major determinants of overall effects, and provide a physiologically plausible explanation of why experimental findings can appear to be small and difficult to reproduce, yet deserve serious consideration. Frontiers Media S.A. 2014-10-09 /pmc/articles/PMC4191432/ /pubmed/25346660 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2014.00310 Text en Copyright © 2014 Cavarretta, Carnevale, Tegolo and Migliore. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Neuroscience Cavarretta, Francesco Carnevale, Nicholas T. Tegolo, Domenico Migliore, Michele Effects of low frequency electric fields on synaptic integration in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons: implications for power line emissions |
title | Effects of low frequency electric fields on synaptic integration in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons: implications for power line emissions |
title_full | Effects of low frequency electric fields on synaptic integration in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons: implications for power line emissions |
title_fullStr | Effects of low frequency electric fields on synaptic integration in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons: implications for power line emissions |
title_full_unstemmed | Effects of low frequency electric fields on synaptic integration in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons: implications for power line emissions |
title_short | Effects of low frequency electric fields on synaptic integration in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons: implications for power line emissions |
title_sort | effects of low frequency electric fields on synaptic integration in hippocampal ca1 pyramidal neurons: implications for power line emissions |
topic | Neuroscience |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4191432/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25346660 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2014.00310 |
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