In neurogenerative diseases, comprising Alzheimer's (AD), functional alteration in autophagy is considered one of the pathological hallmarks and a promising therapeutic target. Epidemiological investigations on the possible causes undergoing these diseases have suggested that electromagnetic fields (EMF) exposition can contribute to their etiology. On the other hand, EMF have therapeutic implications in reactivating neuronal functionality. To partly clarify this dualism, the effect of low-frequency EMF (LF-EMF) on the modulation of autophagy was investigated in human
neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells, which were also subsequently exposed to Aβ
peptides, key players in AD. The results primarily point that LF-EMF induce a significant reduction of
microRNA 30a (miR-30a) expression with a concomitant increase of
Beclin1 transcript (BECN1) and its corresponding
protein. Furthermore, LF-EMF counteract the induced miR-30a up-regulation in the same cells transfected with miR-30a mimic precursor molecules and, on the other side, rescue
Beclin1 expression after BECN1
siRNA treatment. The expression of autophagy-related markers (ATG7 and LC3B-II) as well as the dynamics of autophagosome formation were also visualized after LF-EMF exposition. Finally, different protocols of repeated LF-EMF treatments were assayed to contrast the effects of Aβ
peptides in vitro administration. Overall, this research demonstrates, for the first time, that specific LF-EMF treatments can modulate in vitro the expression of a
microRNA sequence, which in turn affects autophagy via
Beclin1 expression. Taking into account the pivotal role of autophagy in the clearance of
protein aggregates within the cells, our results indicate a potential cytoprotective effect exerted by LF-EMF in
neurodegenerative diseases such as AD. J. Cell. Physiol. 229: 1776-1786, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.