Modificaciones fisarias en el conejo inducidas por campos electromagnéticos

This study was carried out to compare the effects of two different electromagnetic fields (2,4 and 10 Gauss) on the growth plate of long bones. Forty five 4-week-old rabbits were divided in three groups of 15 animals each. All of them wore two Helmholtz coils on their right knee for 8 hours daily and then were sacrificed, the first after for 4 weeks, the second one after 12 weeks and the third one after 24 weeks. In this last group the coils were removed after 12 weeks and the animals allowed to live other 12 weeks to study the evolution of the growth plate after cesation of the stimulation. In each group, animals were not stimulated (sham subgroup). Results showed a greater difference in length in those bones stimulated with 10 Gauss, in respect to their contralateral, than the other subgroups. However these differences were less than 2,5% of the total length of the bone. Growth plate height of stimulated bones was greater than their contralateral in all subgroups with no other remarkable histological differences. Closure of the growth plate was delayed in the 10 Gauss stimulated bones but not in the rest. No differences were found among bones of sham subgroups at any time.