EFFECTS OF PULSED SHORT WAVES ON CARBOHYDRATE AND LIPID METABOLISM AND ON RENAL FUNCTION. AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Pulsed short waves are short electromagnetic waves with a fixed duration, emitted intermittently, separated by free intervals with a variable duration. If the favorable effects of short continuous waves are mostly due to the endotissular production of heat (endothermy), the action mechanism of pulsed short waves is more complex, these waves being “athermal”. Pulsed short waves are part of high frequency therapy and through their biological effects, effective therapeutic results and absence of side effects, have many indications: rheumatology, post-trauma, burns, neurology. The aim of the study was to monitor changes in carbohydrate, lipid metabolism, as well as biochemical parameters, creatine kinase, urea, creatinine, and to compare them before and after treatment with pulsed short waves. For the experiment, white female Wistar rats were used, which were assigned to four groups (no.=10 animals in groups 1, 2, 3, no.=5 animals in group 4, control): group 1 exposed to a dose of 1/80 impulses/sec for 10 min/day, group 2 exposed to 4/400 impulses/sec for 10 min/day, group 3 exposed to 6/600 impulses/sec for 10 min/day, 15 sessions, and group 4, control group, unexposed. There were no changes in carbohydrate metabolism, glycemia values after the two weeks of treatment with pulsed short waves in the three doses used were slightly altered, with a slight increase in glycemia values occurring in most of the rats, but the differences were not statistically significant. Regarding lipid metabolism, the values of cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL-cholesterol were slightly changed, with a decreasing tendency in most of the rats of all three experimental groups, without statistical significance, after the two weeks of exposure to pulsed short waves. Creatine kinase values were altered, with a decrease in most of the rats compared to initial values before treatment, but without statistically significant differences. In group 1 (1/80 impulses/sec) and group 2 (4/400 impulses/sec), the mean urea value after exposure decreased compared to the mean value before exposure, with statistically significant differences. In group 3 (6/600 impulses/sec), the mean urea value after exposure decreased, without statistically significant differences. The mean creatinine values in all three experimental groups increased after the two weeks of treatment with pulsed short waves, with statistically significant differences compared to the mean values before exposure, but the increases were within normal limits. In the unexposed control group, there were no changes.