Mozart music stimulation effect on wistar rats’ neurogenesis

Introduction: Optimal brain development is required to achieve optimal health. Therefore, stimulation is needed to achieve optimal development, and one of the stimulations which can be provided is music stimulation. Several prior investigations have been completed to prove the impact of music stimulation on brain development, whose results still showed both pros and cons. This investigation had the intention of determining musical stimulation’s impacts on neurogenesis. Method: Thirty 30 days old male Wistar rats were grouped randomly but equally into experimental and control groups, with 15 rats in each group. The experimental group was exposed for 90 minutes twice a day in 30 constitutive days to Mozart music (Mozart Sonata for two pianos K. 448) with sound pressure levels between 60 and 80 dB. After 30 days, the rats were euthanized. The neurogenesis parameters, such as plasma corticosterone level, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1) concentration, and cerebral cortex thickness, were assessed. Result: Rats with Mozart music exposure had considerably lower plasma corticosterone. They had substantially higher BDNF concentration in the hippocampus compared to the control group (p-value 0.049 and 0.040, respectively). Still, no significant effect was found on IGF-1 concentration and cerebral cortex thickness (p-value 0.148 and 0.094, respectively). Conclusion: The brain development process requires stimulation, and Mozart’s music is proven to be an alternative to stimulations provided for brain development.