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Friday, 18 October 2013

The idea of using electricity to stimulate the brain has been around since ancient times, when electric fish were used for the treatment of headache.

In the latest developments, Jenny Rodger and her colleagues in Experimental And Regenerative Neuroscience (EARN) have been working on a therapy that uses magnetic pulses to stimulate the brain.

This treatment is already used on patients to treat conditions such as Parkinson's disease, autism, depression, schizophrenia, epilepsy and stroke. But neither the practitioners nor the patients know how it works.

"There is a lot of research being carried out on the therapeutic effects of magnetic fields in humans, but in order to figure out how this works, and from there, improve treatment success, we are going back to basics and studying cells in a dish and laboratory animal brains," said Research Associate Professor Rodger.

She and her team of graduate and postdoctoral researchers are working in a unique field . "Once we understand how magnetic fields affect brain cells, the translation to optimised therapies should be quick because it's already an accepted treatment, even though currently, people have no idea how it works," she said. "Our working hypothesis is that these magnetic fields affect the way brain cells communicate and form connections".

They have tested their theories on mice with abnormal neural circuitry and have succeeded in reducing the abnormal connections by 50 per cent, without affecting normally functioning connections.

"We proved for the first time that pulsed magnetic fields promote changes in brain chemicals that correct those abnormal connections, resulting in improved behaviour and brain function," Professor Rodger said.

"Our research helps to explain how this therapy works at the cellular level.  Previous evidence of usefulness was mainly from anecdotal clinical evidence. For example, some stroke patients are given magnetic therapy a week after suffering a stroke. Some are treated 10 years after! It's very ad hoc and doesn't always work."

"We have also just submitted a paper on the effect of magnetic pulses on calcium in cells. We showed that when we deliver a magnetic pulse to a neuron in a petri dish, the concentration of calcium ions increases inside that cell.  In any biological system, calcium is a core part of the cells' signalling system, so being able to upregulate calcium is really exciting.  It sets the scene for all sorts of regenerative research," she said.

Currently her lab is looking at the effect of magnetic fields in different cell types. Postdoctoral researcher Kristyn Bates is working on how pulsed magnetic fields can affect astrocytes, which are the most common non-neural cells in the brain and are important in regeneration after brain injury.

"Astrocytes are involved in a range of processes that keep brains working at an optimal level and we also know that these cells are important in the way that brain cells react to injury, but we don't yet understand how," Dr Bates said.

PhD candidate Kalina Makowiecki has a psychology background and is looking at changes in brain function after applying pulsed magnetic fields.

Her work characterizing pulsed magnetic field effects in healthy humans is a necessary step towards tailoring treatments to specific neurological and psychiatric disorders.

PhD candidate Alex Tang is also working with the School of Physics to design better delivery systems for the mouse models.

Tamasin Penstone is doing her Honours research on in vitro scratch injuries as a model for scars or lesions in the brain, and how they respond to magnetic pulses.

"We hope our work will help develop therapies that harness neuroplasticity and promote recovery from brain injury, in a safe way," Dr Bates said.

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