The developmental effects of extremely low frequency electric fields on visual and somatosensory evoked potentials in adult rats
Gok DK, Akpinar D, Hidisoglu E, Ozen S, Agar A, Yargicoglu P. · 2016
View Original AbstractElectric field exposure during development caused lasting brain function impairments in rats through oxidative damage mechanisms.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed pregnant rats and their offspring to 50 Hz electric fields (the same frequency as household electricity) and measured brain wave responses to visual and touch stimuli. The exposed animals showed delayed brain responses and increased oxidative damage in both brain and retinal tissue compared to unexposed controls. This suggests that electric field exposure during development can impair nervous system function through cellular damage mechanisms.
Why This Matters
This research demonstrates that extremely low frequency electric fields can disrupt normal brain development and function, with effects persisting into adulthood. The 12 kV/m exposure level used here is significantly higher than typical household exposures (which range from 1-100 V/m), but it's within the range found near high-voltage power lines. What makes this study particularly concerning is that it shows both prenatal and postnatal exposure windows can cause lasting neurological changes, with the combination of both exposures producing the most severe effects. The researchers linked these functional impairments to oxidative stress, providing a biological mechanism for how electric fields might damage developing nervous systems. While we can't directly extrapolate from rats to humans, this adds to growing evidence that EMF exposure during critical developmental periods may have lasting consequences for brain function.
Exposure Details
- Electric Field
- 12000 V/m
- Source/Device
- 50 Hz
- Exposure Duration
- 1 h/day
Exposure Context
This study used 12000 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 purpose of our study was to investigate the developmental effects of extremely low frequency electric fields (ELF-EFs) on visual evoked potentials (VEPs) and somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) and to examine the relationship between lipid peroxidation and changes of these potentials.
In this context, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) levels were determined as an indica...
The latencies of VEP components in all experimental groups were significantly prolonged versus C gro...
In conclusion, alterations seen in evoked potentials, at least partly, could be explained by lipid peroxidation in the retina and brain.
Show BibTeX
@article{dk_2016_the_developmental_effects_of_378,
author = {Gok DK and Akpinar D and Hidisoglu E and Ozen S and Agar A and Yargicoglu P.},
title = {The developmental effects of extremely low frequency electric fields on visual and somatosensory evoked potentials in adult rats},
year = {2016},
doi = {10.3109/15368378.2014.987923},
url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/15368378.2014.987923?journalCode=iebm20},
}Cited By (5 papers)
- Stress-Reducing Effect of a 50 Hz Electric Field in Mice after Repeated Immobilizations, Electric Field Shields, and Polarization of the Electrodes
S. Harakawa et al. (2022) - 7 citations
- The effect of very low dose pulsed magnetic waves on cochlea
B. Tuhanioğlu et al. (2018) - 5 citations
- Configuration‐dependent variability of the effect of an electric field on the plasma glucocorticoid level in immobilized mice
Takuya Hori et al. (2017) - 5 citations
- Suppression of Glucocorticoid Response in Stressed Mice Using 50 Hz Electric Field According to Immobilization Degree and Posture
S. Harakawa et al. (2022) - 1 citations