The effects of prenatal and neonatal exposure to electromagnetic fields on infant rat myocardium
Tayefi H, Kiray A, Kiray M, Ergur BU, Bagriyanik HA, Pekcetin C, Fidan M, Ozogul C · 2010
View Original AbstractMagnetic field exposure during pregnancy and early development caused significant heart muscle damage in rats at levels comparable to high-EMF environments.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed pregnant rats and their newborn pups to magnetic fields (3 mT) for 4 hours daily and examined the heart muscle tissue. They found significant damage including increased cell death, oxidative stress, and structural abnormalities in the heart muscle cells of exposed animals compared to unexposed controls. This suggests that electromagnetic field exposure during pregnancy and early development may harm heart tissue development.
Why This Matters
This study reveals concerning evidence that magnetic field exposure during critical developmental windows can damage heart muscle tissue. The 3 mT exposure level used here is significantly higher than typical household magnetic field levels (which range from 0.01 to 1 mT near common appliances), but it's within the range that could occur near high-voltage power lines or certain industrial equipment. What makes this research particularly significant is that it demonstrates EMF effects during prenatal and early postnatal development, when tissues are most vulnerable to environmental stressors. The combination of oxidative stress, cell death, and structural damage to heart muscle cells suggests multiple pathways through which EMF exposure could potentially affect cardiovascular development. While we need more research to understand real-world implications, this study adds to the growing body of evidence that EMF exposure during pregnancy and early life deserves serious consideration and precautionary approaches.
Exposure Details
- Magnetic Field
- 3 mG
- Exposure Duration
- 4 h a day
Exposure Context
This study used 3 mG for magnetic fields:
- 150Kx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.2 mG
- 30Kx 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 aim of this study was to investigate the effects of prenatal exposure to EMF on rat myocardium by biochemical and histopathological evaluations.
In this study, 10 pregnant Wistar rats were used. Half of the pregnant rats were exposed to EMF of 3...
In the EMF-exposed group, lipid peroxidation levels significantly increased compared to sham. Supero...
In conclusion, the results show that prenatal exposure to EMF causes oxidative stress, apoptosis and morphological pathology in myocardium of rat pups. The results of our study indicate a probable role of free radicals in the adverse effects of prenatal exposure to EMF. Further studies are needed to demonstrate whether the EMF exposure can induce adverse effects on the myocardium.
Show BibTeX
@article{h_2010_the_effects_of_prenatal_472,
author = {Tayefi H and Kiray A and Kiray M and Ergur BU and Bagriyanik HA and Pekcetin C and Fidan M and Ozogul C},
title = {The effects of prenatal and neonatal exposure to electromagnetic fields on infant rat myocardium},
year = {2010},
url = {https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3302692/},
}