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Chronic electromagnetic field exposure decreases HSP70 levels and lowers cytoprotection.

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Di Carlo A, White N, Guo F, Garrett P, Litovitz T. · 2002

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Several long-term or repeated EMF exposure protocols significantly decreased protection against hypoxic stress in chick embryos and lowered HSP70 levels.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Chick embryos were exposed to ELF-EMFs at 8 microT continuously for 4 days, or to ELF or RF EMFs repeated daily for 4 days in sessions of 20, 30, or 60 minutes once or twice daily. Several exposure protocols produced statistically significant decreases in protection against hypoxic stress, including continuous ELF and 30 or 60 minute ELF twice daily, or 30 or 60 minute once daily RF. Following 4 days of ELF-EMF exposure, HSP70 levels declined by 27% compared to controls.

Why This Matters

The study built on an earlier finding that long-term, continuous exposure to ELF-EMFs decreased protection against ultraviolet radiation. From that earlier result, the researchers hypothesized that de-protection against hypoxia should also occur following long-term, continuous, or daily, repeated exposures to EMFs. Adding ELF-EMF noise, previously shown to minimize ELF-EMF induced hypoxia protection, inhibited the hypoxia de-protection caused by long-term continuous ELF or daily repeated RF exposures. The researchers suggested that this EMF-induced decrease in HSP70 levels and resulting decline in cytoprotection indicates a mechanism by which daily exposure could enhance the probability of cancer and other diseases.

Exposure Details

Magnetic Field
0.008 mT
Exposure Duration
Continuously for 4 days, or repeated daily (20, 30, or 60 min once or twice daily for 4 days)

Exposure Context

This study used 0.008 mT for magnetic fields:

Building Biology guidelines are practitioner-based limits from real-world assessments. BioInitiative Report recommendations are based on peer-reviewed science. Check Your Exposure to compare your own measurements.

Where This Falls on the Concern Scale

Study Exposure Level in ContextStudy Exposure Level in ContextThis study: 0.008 mTExtreme Concern - 5 mGFCC Limit - 2,000 mGEffects observed in the Extreme Concern range (Building Biology)FCC limit is 25 times higher than this level

Study Details

Experiments presented in the current report are based on a study in which long-term (4 days), continuous exposure to ELF-EMFs decreased protection against ultraviolet radiation. Based on this result, it was hypothesized that de-protection against hypoxia should also occur following long-term, continuous, or daily, repeated exposures to EMFs.

To test this hypothesis, chick embryos were exposed to ELF-EMFs (8 microT) continuously for 4 days, ...

Several of the exposure protocols yielded embryos that had statistically significant decreases in pr...

Cite This Study
Di Carlo A, White N, Guo F, Garrett P, Litovitz T. (2002). Chronic electromagnetic field exposure decreases HSP70 levels and lowers cytoprotection. J. Cell. Biochem. 84: 447-454, 2002.
Show BibTeX
@article{a_2002_chronic_electromagnetic_field_exposure_946,
  author = {Di Carlo A and White N and Guo F and Garrett P and Litovitz T.},
  title = {Chronic electromagnetic field exposure decreases HSP70 levels and lowers cytoprotection.},
  year = {2002},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11813250/},
}
PubMed: 11813250

Cited By (97 papers)

View all 97 citing papers on Semantic Scholar

Quick Questions About This Study

The experiments used chick embryos as the test subjects.
Several, but not all, protocols yielded embryos with statistically significant decreases in protection against hypoxic stress, including continuous ELF and certain once or twice daily ELF or RF sessions.
HSP70 levels declined by 27% compared to controls after 4 days of ELF-EMF exposure.
The superposition of ELF-EMF noise inhibited the hypoxia de-protection caused by long-term continuous ELF or daily repeated RF exposures.
The researchers suggested that the EMF-induced decrease in HSP70 levels and resulting decline in cytoprotection suggests a mechanism by which daily exposure could enhance the probability of cancer and other diseases.