DOI: 10.21455/GPB2017.4-5

FACTORS OF SOLAR ACTIVITY ENHANCE THE LOCOMOTOR
AND EXPLORATORY BEHAVIOR IN RATS

V.N. Mukhin, K.I. Pavlov, I.N. Abdurasulova, V.M. Klimenko

Federal State Budgetary Research Institution «Institute of Experimental Medicine»,
St.-Petersburg, Russia

Abstract. According to the literature, solar activity affects the functioning of the human brain. However, its effect on experimental animals has not been studied. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether factors of solar activity influence behavior of rats. From October 26 to December 24, 2011, behavior of the individual rats or their small groups (N = 19) was recorded in the open field test and the operant food-uptake behavior test. Parameters of solar activity are obtained from public databases on the Internet. Results of the correlation analysis showed that the number of sectors travelled by the rats in the open field test, number of holes they investigated, and the number of food pellets they got during learning to food-uptake task were positively associated with solar activity on the day of the study and in the days before and after that. Such associations were revealed for the number of sunspots, the intensity of solar radiation in the radio range, the number of solar flares in the X-ray and
Hα-ranges. Factor analysis allowed to distinguish two factors positively associated with behavior of rats. One of them closely correlates with the solar radio flux and can therefore be presumably attributed to its electromagnetic component. The other one is closely related to the 3-hour planetary index of oscillations of the Earth's magnetic field K, and this indicates its corpuscular nature. These results correspond to the literature data on the association between the parameters of solar and geomagnetic activity and the characteristics of electrical activity of the brain of humans and animals. Behavior of rats is associated most closely with the number of sunspots on the day of the study, which parameter significantly correlates with both factors of solar activity. Therefore, this index can be used to take into account the influence of solar activity on the behavior of rats in the experimental practice.

Keywords: solar activity, brain, rats, behavior.

KLIMENKO Victor M. – M.D., Ph.D., professor, the head of division, FSBRI «Institute of Experimental Medicine». St.-Petersburg, Russia. Tel.: +7 (812) 234-99-37. E-mail: klimenko_victor@mail.ru