Electromagnetic Stimulation can Improve Brain Performance
Electromagnetic stimulation can reprogram the brain and improve its performance, a new study suggests.
According to researchers at The University of Western Australia, exposing the brain to an electromagnetic field can help it work better. The research provides evidence that people with some mental disorders such as depression can benefit from electromagnetic stimulation.
Université Pierre et Marie Curie in France also worked on the study and it is published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
The team wanted to known whether or not weak sequential electromagnetic pulses (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation - or rTMS) helped change the way the brain works.
Mice models with abnormal brain connections were used to study the effect of low-intensity repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (LI-rTMS).
They found that these stimulations helped shift abnormal neural connections to more normal locations in mice models.
"This reorganisation is associated with changes in a specific brain chemical, and occurred in several brain regions, across a whole network. Importantly, this structural reorganisation was not seen in the healthy brain or the appropriate connections in the abnormal mice, suggesting that the therapy could have minimal side effects in humans," said Kalina Makowiecki, lead author of the study.
"Our findings greatly increase our understanding of the specific cellular and molecular events that occur in the brain during this therapy and have implications for how best to use it in humans to treat disease and improve brain function," Ms Makowiecki said in a news release.
According to Yale School of Medicine, rTMS in humans involves an electromagnet that is placed on the scalp. This magnet generates weak magnetic pulses, generally the strength of an MRI scan. Research has shown that the stimulated brain region registers lower activity.
