The extremely low-frequency magnetic field exposure differently affects the AMPAR and NMDAR subunit expressions in the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex and prefrontal cortex without effects on the rat spatial learning and memory.
Li C, Xie M, Luo F, He C, Wang J, Tan G, Hu Z. · 2014
View Original AbstractMagnetic field exposure altered brain chemistry without affecting memory, showing EMF can cause biological changes that don't immediately translate to obvious symptoms.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed rats to 50 Hz magnetic fields for up to 28 days and found the exposure altered brain receptor proteins in multiple regions. Despite these measurable brain chemistry changes, the rats showed no problems with spatial learning or memory, suggesting functional abilities remained intact.
Why This Matters
This study reveals something crucial about EMF research that often gets overlooked in public debates. The science demonstrates that exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields can produce measurable biological changes in the brain without causing obvious behavioral effects. The 0.5 mT exposure level used here is significantly higher than typical household exposures (which range from 0.01 to 0.2 mT near appliances), yet the researchers found complex, time-dependent changes in glutamate receptor proteins across different brain regions.
What this means for you is that EMF effects on the brain may be more subtle and complex than simple memory tests can detect. The reality is that changes in brain chemistry don't always immediately translate to measurable cognitive problems, but that doesn't mean they're insignificant. This research adds to the growing body of evidence showing that EMF exposure produces real biological responses in brain tissue, even when functional outcomes aren't immediately apparent.
Exposure Details
- Magnetic Field
- 0.5 mG
- Source/Device
- 50 Hz
- Exposure Duration
- 4 h/day for 14 or 28 days
Exposure Context
This study used 0.5 mG for magnetic fields:
- 25Kx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.2 mG
- 5Kx 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 the present study, we investigated the effects of chronic exposure (14 and 28 days) to a 50 Hz, 0.5 mT extremely low-frequency magnetic field (ELF-MF) on the NMDAR and AMPAR subunit expressions and rat spatial learning and memory.
Using the Western blotting method, we found ELF-MF exposure specifically decreased the expressions o...
These results indicate that the dynamic and brain-region specific changes in ionotropic glutamate receptor expression induced by ELF-MF are insufficient to influence the rat spatial learning ability.
Show BibTeX
@article{c_2014_the_extremely_lowfrequency_magnetic_273,
author = {Li C and Xie M and Luo F and He C and Wang J and Tan G and Hu Z.},
title = {The extremely low-frequency magnetic field exposure differently affects the AMPAR and NMDAR subunit expressions in the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex and prefrontal cortex without effects on the rat spatial learning and memory.},
year = {2014},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935114002217},
}