CONTACT: Thomas Houpt at (850) 644-4907, [email protected];
James C. Smith at (850) 644-5575, [email protected]
By Frank StephensonSeptember 2001
MAGNETIC FIELDS CAN ALTER CERTAIN BRAIN FUNCTIONS, FSU RESEARCHERS SAY
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.--Magnetic therapeutic aids come in all shapes and sizes these days and represent a multibillion-dollar industry worldwide. Still, there's little scientific evidence that magnetic devices have any biological effects whatsoever, a fact reinforced by research using powerful magnets that dates to the 19th century.
Two scientists at Florida State University have now discovered something many biologists might still consider heresy: If powerful enough, magnetic fields can significantly alter certain brain functions. The findings pose questions about the safe upper limits to the strength of MRI machines so widely used in medicine.
Working with rats exposed to strong fields in magnets at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Thomas Houpt and James C. Smith discovered that the animals not only develop strong taste aversions after exposure but also curious circling behaviors that change along with the animals' polar orientation in the magnets. Rats oriented toward the South Pole were found to circle briefly in a counterclockwise direction after being returned to their cages; those facing the North Pole turned in the exact opposite direction before settling down.
The discovery marks the first irrefutable proof that magnetic fields can "turn on a brain," said Houpt, a neurophysiologist. Smith, a neuropsychologist, is an internationally recognized leader in studying the phenomenon of conditioned taste aversion as caused by exposure to radiation.
For more information, see "Of Mice and Magnets," a feature article published in the latest issue of FSU's research magazine, "Research in Review," at http://www.research.fsu.edu/ResearchR/issu
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