[Modulated extremely high frequency electromagnetic radiation of low intensity activates or inhibits respiratory burst in neutrophils depending on modulation frequency].
Gapeev AB, Lakushina VS, Chemeris NK, Fesenko EE · 1997
View Original AbstractExtremely weak EMF exposure can boost or suppress immune cell function by 25% depending on modulation frequency, revealing biological sensitivity far below current safety limits.
Plain English Summary
Russian researchers exposed mouse immune cells to extremely high frequency radiation (42 GHz) at low power for 20 minutes. Depending on how the radiation was pulsed, it either boosted or suppressed the cells' infection-fighting ability by 25%, showing weak electromagnetic fields can significantly alter immune function.
Why This Matters
This study reveals something crucial that's often overlooked in EMF research: it's not just about power levels, but about how the radiation is modulated. The fact that the same frequency could either activate or suppress immune function depending on modulation patterns shows the sophisticated ways EMF can interact with biological systems. At 50 microwatts per square centimeter, this exposure level is thousands of times lower than what your cell phone produces when held against your head, yet it still caused measurable changes in immune cell behavior. What this means for you is that even very weak EMF exposures may be biologically active in ways we're only beginning to understand. The immune system's sensitivity to these frequency-dependent effects suggests we need much more nuanced safety standards than the current 'thermal-only' approach that ignores these subtle but potentially significant biological responses.
Exposure Details
- Power Density
- 0.05 µW/m²
- Source/Device
- 41.95-42.05 GHz, and 41.95-42.05 GHz
- Exposure Duration
- 20 minutes
Exposure Context
This study used 0.05 µW/m² for radio frequency:
- 5Mx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.1 μW/m²
- 83.3Kx above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 0.0006 μW/cm²
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 Details
The influence of low-intensity modulated electromagnetic radiation of extremely high frequencies (EHF EMR) on synergistic reaction of calcium ionophore A23187 and phorbol ester PMA in activation of the respiratory burst of the peritoneal neutrophils of mice line NMRI was investigated.
The production of reactive oxygen species by the neutrophils was estimated by luminol-dependent chem...
It was shown, that continuous EHF EMR (50 microW/cm2) inhibited quasi-resonantly the synergistic rea...
The obtained results prove the possibility of control over cell functioning by low-intensity modulated EHF EMR, presumably, manipulating by connected systems of enzyme reactions.
Show BibTeX
@article{ab_1997_modulated_extremely_high_frequency_990,
author = {Gapeev AB and Lakushina VS and Chemeris NK and Fesenko EE},
title = {[Modulated extremely high frequency electromagnetic radiation of low intensity activates or inhibits respiratory burst in neutrophils depending on modulation frequency].},
year = {1997},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9410041/},
}