The effect of different strengths of extremely low-frequency electric fields on antioxidant status, lipid peroxidation, and visual evoked potentials.
Akpinar D, Ozturk N, Ozen S, Agar A, Yargicoglu P. · 2012
View Original AbstractElectric field exposure at power line levels caused measurable brain and vision damage in just two weeks of one-hour daily exposure.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed rats to extremely low-frequency electric fields (the type generated by power lines) for one hour daily over two weeks. The exposed animals showed significant damage to brain and retinal tissue, including increased oxidative stress (cellular damage from free radicals) and disrupted visual processing. This suggests that even brief daily exposures to electric fields can harm the nervous system and vision.
Why This Matters
This study provides compelling evidence that electric field exposure damages the brain and visual system through oxidative stress mechanisms. The exposure levels (12,000-18,000 V/m) are comparable to what you might encounter living very close to high-voltage power lines, though much higher than typical household levels. What's particularly concerning is that these effects occurred with just one hour of daily exposure over two weeks. The researchers found dose-dependent damage, meaning higher field strengths caused more severe effects. This adds to a growing body of evidence showing that EMF exposure triggers oxidative stress, which is linked to numerous health problems including neurodegeneration and cancer. The visual processing delays observed in this study could translate to real-world impacts on reaction time and cognitive function in humans exposed to similar fields.
Exposure Details
- Electric Field
- 12000 and 18000 V/m
- Source/Device
- 50 Hz
- Exposure Duration
- 14 days (1 h/day)
Exposure Context
This study used 12000 and 18000 V/m for electric fields:
- 40Kx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.3 V/m
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.
Study Details
The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of extremely low-frequency electric field (ELF EF) on visual evoked potential (VEP), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), total antioxidant status (TAS), total oxidant status (TOS), and oxidant stress index (OSI).
Thirty female Wistar rats, aged 3 months, were divided into three equal groups: Control (C), the gro...
Brain and retina TBARS, TOS, and OSI were significantly increased in the E12 and E18 groups with res...
Show BibTeX
@article{d_2012_the_effect_of_different_217,
author = {Akpinar D and Ozturk N and Ozen S and Agar A and Yargicoglu P.},
title = {The effect of different strengths of extremely low-frequency electric fields on antioxidant status, lipid peroxidation, and visual evoked potentials.},
year = {2012},
doi = {10.3109/15368378.2012.692342},
url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/15368378.2012.692342},
}