[Neuroscience] Effects of weak electric fields on the activity of neurons and neuronal networks

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http://rpd.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/106/4/321?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1077029641510_173&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&volume=106&firstpage=321&resourcetype=1&journalcode=rpd

Radiation Protection Dosimetry 106:321-323 (2003)
© 2003 Oxford University Press

Effects of weak electric fields on the activity of neurons and
neuronal networks
J.G.R. Jefferys, J. Deans, M. Bikson and J. Fox

Electric fields applied to brain tissue will affect cellular
properties. They will hyperpolarise the ends of cells closest to the
positive part of the field, and depolarise ends closest to the
negative. In the case of neurons this affects excitability. How these
changes in transmembrane potential are distributed depends on the
length constant of the neuron, and on its geometry; if the neuron is
electrically compact, the change in transmembrane potential becomes an
almost linear function of distance in the direction of the field.
Neurons from the mammalian hippocampus, maintained in tissue slices in
vitro, are significantly affected by fields of around 1-5 Vm-1.