ABSTRACTS 2755-2767
Multiple authors including M.E. Hoff, A.M. Hays, B. Singer, K. D. Seranak, D. M. Lynn, Jr., D.C. Straub, and others · 1963
Early research showed alternating current could alter electrical properties of biological membranes, establishing foundational EMF-biology interactions.
Plain English Summary
This 1963 conference paper examined how alternating current and various chemical agents affected electrical potentials across frog skin, a classic model for studying how electromagnetic fields interact with biological membranes. The research investigated how AC current influenced the skin's natural electrical properties alongside oxidizing and reducing chemicals. This early work helped establish fundamental understanding of how electrical fields interact with living tissue barriers.
Why This Matters
While this 1963 research predates our modern EMF concerns, it represents crucial foundational work on how alternating current interacts with biological membranes. Frog skin has long served as a gold standard model for understanding electrical transport across biological barriers because it shares key properties with human epithelial tissues. The science demonstrates that even six decades ago, researchers recognized that AC current could alter the fundamental electrical properties of living membranes. What this means for you is that the biological effects of alternating current exposure aren't new discoveries. The reality is that your daily exposure to AC fields from power lines, home wiring, and electrical appliances creates similar membrane interactions throughout your body, though the implications for human health remain actively debated.
Finding
Reducing agents added to the inside bathing solution produced potentials less than -0.5V when added to the inside bathing solution. Oxidizing agents with E! of greater than +0.4V when added to the outside bathing solutions reduced irreversibly the measured potential by 50% or more in 10 minutes.
In their words
“Reducing agents added to the inside bathing solution produced potentials less than -0.5V when added to the inside bathing solution. Oxidizing agents with E! of greater than +0.4V when added to the outside bathing solutions reduced irreversibly the measured potential by 50% or more in 10 minutes.”
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study. Duration: 10-30 seconds
Study Details
To determine whether oxidizing and reducing agents can alter the membrane potential of frog skin.
The ventral skins of grass frogs (Rana Pipiens) were used and membrane potentials described were mea...
Reducing agents added to the inside bathing solution at concentrations greater than -0.5V when added...
These observed decreases in potential may occur by an increase in permeability to sodium, by alteration of transmembrane redox potentials, or by induction of dipoles which disorient membrane charge distribution.
Show BibTeX
@article{abstracts_2755_2767_g6961,
author = {Multiple authors including M.E. Hoff and A.M. Hays and B. Singer and K. D. Seranak and D. M. Lynn and Jr. and D.C. Straub and and others},
title = {ABSTRACTS 2755-2767},
year = {1963},
}