Bacterial response to the exposure of 50 Hz electromagnetic fields
Authors not listed · 2008
Exposure to 50 Hz EMF increased E. coli viability and caused morphological changes including coccoid cells and lengthened forms.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed Escherichia coli ATCC 700926 to 50 Hz electromagnetic fields at 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 mT and compared them with sham-exposed controls. Exposed and control samples had similar total and culturable counts. Exposed samples showed increased cell viability after 24 hours of re-incubation outside the solenoid. Exposure for 20–120 minutes caused significant morphological changes including coccoid cells and atypical lengthened forms. DNA fingerprinting showed no changes, while RNA-AFLP analysis revealed some differences at each field intensity.
Why This Matters
The study aimed to investigate how prokaryotic microorganisms adapt to environmental stress from extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields. The authors concluded that 50 Hz EMF acts as a stressing factor on bacteria and that bacteria can serve as a model for studying acute and chronic ELF-EMF effects.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.
Show BibTeX
@article{bacterial_response_to_the_exposure_of_50_hz_electromagnetic_fields_ce2197,
author = {Unknown},
title = {Bacterial response to the exposure of 50 Hz electromagnetic fields},
year = {2008},
doi = {10.1002/bem.20391},
}