Effect of ELF-EMF on number of apoptotic cells; correlation with reactive oxygen species and HSP.
Garip AI, Akan Z. · 2010
View Original AbstractEMF exposure had opposite effects on cell survival depending on cellular stress levels, suggesting EMF health impacts vary by biological context.
Plain English Summary
Scientists exposed human blood cancer cells to electromagnetic fields from power lines for three hours. The fields protected healthy cells from dying but increased cell death in already-stressed cells. This shows that EMF effects depend on the cell's existing health condition.
Why This Matters
This study reveals a crucial nuance often missing from EMF research discussions: the same electromagnetic field exposure can have dramatically different effects depending on cellular conditions. The 1 milliTesla exposure level used here is significantly higher than typical household exposures (which range from 0.01 to 0.2 milliTesla), but it's within the range of occupational exposures near power lines or industrial equipment. What makes this research particularly significant is its demonstration that EMF effects aren't simply 'good' or 'bad' but depend on the biological context. The finding that EMF exposure increased oxidative stress and cell death in already-stressed cells while protecting healthy cells suggests our bodies' response to electromagnetic fields is more complex than many studies assume. This complexity helps explain why EMF research sometimes produces conflicting results and underscores why we need more nuanced approaches to understanding EMF health effects.
Exposure Details
- Magnetic Field
- 1 mG
- Source/Device
- 50 Hz
- Exposure Duration
- 3 hours
Exposure Context
This study used 1 mG for magnetic fields:
- 50Kx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.2 mG
- 10Kx above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 1 mG
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
In this study the effect of ELFEMF on the number of apoptotic cells of K562 human leukemia cell line induced or not with oxidative stress and the correlation with heat-shock protein 70 (hsp70) levels was investigated.
One sample was treated with H 2 O 2 while the other was left untreated. ELF-EMF (1 mT, 50 Hz) was ap...
ELF-EMF alone caused a decrease in the number of apoptotic cells and a slight increase in viability....
These results show that the effect of ELF-EMF on biological systems depends on the status of the cell: while in cells not exposed to oxidative stress it is able to decrease the number of apoptotic cells by inducing an increase in hsp levels, it increases the number of apoptotic cells in oxidative stress-induced cells.
Show BibTeX
@article{ai_2010_effect_of_elfemf_on_369,
author = {Garip AI and Akan Z.},
title = {Effect of ELF-EMF on number of apoptotic cells; correlation with reactive oxygen species and HSP.},
year = {2010},
url = {https://akjournals.com/configurable/content/journals$002f018$002f61$002f2$002farticle-p158.xml?t:ac=journals%24002f018%24002f61%24002f2%24002farticle-p158.xml},
}