Effects of low- and high-frequency repetitive magnetic stimulation on neuronal cell proliferation and growth factor expression: A preliminary report

Repetitive magnetic stimulation is a neuropsychiatric and neurorehabilitation tool that can be used to investigate the neurobiology of sensory and motor functions. Few studies have examined the effects of repetitive magnetic stimulation on the modulation of neurotrophic/growth factors and neuronal cells in vitro. Therefore, the current study examined the differential effects of repetitive magnetic stimulation on neuronal cell proliferation as well as various growth factor expression. Immortalized mouse neuroblastoma cells were used as the cell model in this study. Dishes of cultured cells were randomly divided into control, sham, low-frequency (0.5Hz, 1Tesla) and high-frequency (10Hz, 1Tesla) groups (n=4 dishes/group) and were stimulated for 3 days. Expression of neurotrophic/growth factors, Akt and Erk was investigated by Western blotting analysis 3 days after repetitive magnetic stimulation. Neuroblastoma cell proliferation was determined with a cell counting assay. There were differences in cell proliferation based on stimulus frequency. Low-frequency stimulation did not alter proliferation relative to the control, while high-frequency stimulation elevated proliferation relative to the control group. The expression levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) were elevated in the high-frequency magnetic stimulation group. Akt and Erk expression was also significantly elevated in the high-frequency stimulation group, while low-frequency stimulation decreased the expression of Akt and Erk compared to the control. In conclusion, we determined that different frequency magnetic stimulation had an influence on neuronal cell proliferation via regulation of Akt and ERK signaling pathways and the expression of growth factors such as BDNF, GDNF, NT-3 and PDGF. These findings represent a promising opportunity to gain insight into how different frequencies of repetitive magnetic stimulation may mediate cell proliferation.