Effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation on oxidative stress in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.
Medina-Fernandez FJ, Escribano BM, Agüera E, Aguilar-Luque M, Feijoo M, Luque E, Garcia-Maceira FI, Pascual-Leone A, Drucker-Colin R, Tunez I · 2017
View Original AbstractTherapeutic magnetic field exposure at 0.7 mT reduced brain damage and oxidative stress in this animal study, showing EMF effects depend heavily on exposure parameters.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed rats with multiple sclerosis-like symptoms to magnetic field stimulation (0.7 mT at 60 Hz) for 2 hours daily over 3 weeks. The magnetic field treatment significantly reduced brain and spinal cord damage, improved motor symptoms, and decreased harmful oxidative stress while boosting protective antioxidant systems. This suggests that certain types of electromagnetic field exposure may actually have therapeutic benefits for neurological conditions.
Why This Matters
This study represents a fascinating counterpoint in the EMF health debate, demonstrating that electromagnetic fields can have beneficial biological effects under specific conditions. The 0.7 mT exposure level used here is significantly higher than typical household magnetic field exposures (which range from 0.01 to 0.2 mT), but well within therapeutic ranges used in clinical magnetic stimulation treatments. What makes this research particularly compelling is its focus on oxidative stress-a key mechanism underlying many health concerns about EMF exposure. The reality is that EMF effects are highly dependent on frequency, intensity, duration, and biological context. While this study doesn't negate concerns about chronic low-level EMF exposure from everyday devices, it does illustrate that the relationship between electromagnetic fields and human health is far more nuanced than simple 'good versus bad' narratives suggest.
Exposure Details
- Magnetic Field
- 0.7 mG
- Source/Device
- 60 Hz
- Exposure Duration
- 2 h in the morning, once a day, 5 days a week, during 3 weeks
Exposure Context
This study used 0.7 mG for magnetic fields:
- 35Kx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.2 mG
- 7Kx 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
The main objective was to evaluate the effect of extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields (EL-EMF) application, like a paradigm of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in the development of EAE.
Rats were injected with a single dose of 150 μg of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG, fragmen...
The data showed that MOG induced motor symptoms as tail paralysis and limb paresis/paralysis, oxidat...
Our findings suggest that: (i) MOG reproduces an experimental model of MS characterised by oxidative and cell damage; and (ii) TMS application decreases oxidative stress and cell death induced by MOG.
Show BibTeX
@article{fj_2017_effects_of_transcranial_magnetic_425,
author = {Medina-Fernandez FJ and Escribano BM and Agüera E and Aguilar-Luque M and Feijoo M and Luque E and Garcia-Maceira FI and Pascual-Leone A and Drucker-Colin R and Tunez I},
title = {Effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation on oxidative stress in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.},
year = {2017},
doi = {10.1080/10715762.2017.1324955},
url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10715762.2017.1324955},
}