Note: This study found no significant biological effects under its experimental conditions. We include all studies for scientific completeness.
Exposure of frog hearts to CW or amplitude-modulated VHF fields: selective efflux of calcium ions at 16 Hz.
Schwartz JL, House DE, Mealing GA · 1990
View Original AbstractWeak RF fields caused 21% increase in calcium movement from heart cells at power levels thousands of times below current safety limits.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed isolated frog hearts to 240-MHz radio frequency fields (similar to some wireless communication frequencies) for 30 minutes to study calcium movement in heart tissue. They found that when the RF field was pulsed at 16 Hz, calcium ions moved out of the heart cells at rates 18-21% higher than normal, but only at very low power levels. This suggests that even weak RF fields can disrupt normal cellular processes in heart tissue when delivered at specific frequencies.
Study Details
Isolated frog hearts were exposed for 30-min periods in a Crawford cell to a 240-MHz electromagnetic field, either continuous-wave or sinusoidally modulated at 0.5 or 16 Hz.
Radiolabeled with calcium (45Ca), the hearts were observed for movement of Ca2+ at calculated SARs ...
Neither CW radiation nor radiation at 0.5 Hz, which is close to the beating frequency of the frog's ...
These data indicate that the intact myocardium of the frog, akin to brain tissue of neonatal chicken, exhibits movement of calcium ions in response to a weak VHF field that is modulated at 16 Hz.
Show BibTeX
@article{jl_1990_exposure_of_frog_hearts_3384,
author = {Schwartz JL and House DE and Mealing GA},
title = {Exposure of frog hearts to CW or amplitude-modulated VHF fields: selective efflux of calcium ions at 16 Hz.},
year = {1990},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2285418/},
}