Background: Nowadays the widespread use of cell phones has increased concerns about the biological effects of electromagnetic fields on human body. The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of physical activity in moderating the effects of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) emitted from cell phones on rat locomotor activity.

Material and Methods: Male Albino-Wistar rats (no=70) were divided into seven groups: Short and Long- term physical activity; Control, ELF-EMF; Sham; Long-term physical activity+ELF-EMF; Short-term physical activity+ELF-EMF. Short and Long- term physical activity groups were forced to daily treadmill running (30 minutes) for one week and one month, respectively. ELF-EMF group was exposed to ELF-EMF cell phone simulator for three hours during the period. Having placed in the ELF-EMF simulator device, the physical activity+ELF-EMF groups were transferred to treadmill. Locomotor activity were analyzed as distance, time and speed of movement in open field apparatus.

Results: The results showed that the ELF-EMF from cell phones can significantly decrease the locomotor activity in the exposed rats. On the other hand, short and long-term physical activity significantly increased motor activity in the trained rats (P≤0.05). However, there was no significant difference between the combination groups (Physical activity+ELF-EMF) and ELF group in locomotor activity.

Conclusion: The results revealed that the physical activity could not prevent the decrease of locomotor activity caused by ELF-EMF from cell phone.

Background: A lot of studies indicate that cancer chemotherapy results in memory and motor impairment immediately following therapy. On the other side, crocin as the chemical constituent isolated from the Saffron is effective on memory and motor impairement. In this study, the effect of crocin on memory and motor impairment induced by cisplatin injection was studied in adult male rats. 

Materials and Methods: In this study, male Wistar rats (n=50) were divided into 5 groups: Control, Sham, Cisplatin (2 mg/kg/week for 21 days), Crocin (30 mg/kg for 21 days) and   Cisplatin+Crocin. Sham group was administrated with Saline. Then, inhibitory avoidance memory, balance and exploratory behaviors were assessed by shuttle box, rotarod and open field apparatus, respectively.

Results: Crocin improved memory impairment induced by cisplatin (P<0.01). Cisplatin also impaired balance in rotarod test. Rearing frequency and total distance traveled in open field test were significantly decreased (P<0.001 and P<0.05, respectively) compared to Control group.

Conclusion: We conclude that crocin injection following the use of anticancer drugs (e.g. cisplatin) might have a protective effect against the cisplatin-induced impairement in cognitive function, balance and explorative behavior.