Effects of ELF Magnetic Field in Combination with Iron(III) Chloride (FeCl3) on Cellular Growth and Surface Morphology of Escherichia coli (E. coli)
Esmekaya MA, Acar SI, Kıran F, Canseven AG, Osmanagaoglu O, Seyhan N. · 2013
View Original AbstractMagnetic fields damaged bacterial cell membranes without killing the bacteria, suggesting EMF exposure can cause cellular harm even when cells appear healthy.
Plain English Summary
Scientists exposed E. coli bacteria to power line frequency magnetic fields for 24 hours. While the bacteria survived and reproduced normally, the electromagnetic exposure damaged their cell surfaces, creating holes and destroying outer membranes. This shows EMF can cause cellular damage even when organisms appear healthy.
Why This Matters
This study provides important evidence that EMF exposure can cause biological damage even when it doesn't immediately kill cells or stop growth. The 2 millitesla magnetic field used here is actually quite strong compared to typical household exposures (which are usually measured in microtesla), but it demonstrates a clear mechanism of cellular damage. What's particularly significant is that the researchers observed structural damage to cell membranes, which are critical barriers that protect cells from their environment. While bacteria aren't human cells, this type of membrane damage could have implications for how EMFs affect our own cellular structures. The fact that damage occurred without affecting cell viability suggests that EMF effects might be more subtle and widespread than we realize, potentially causing cellular stress that doesn't immediately show up as obvious health problems.
Exposure Details
- Magnetic Field
- 2 mG
- Source/Device
- 50 Hz
- Exposure Duration
- 24h
Exposure Context
This study used 2 mG for magnetic fields:
- 100Kx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.2 mG
- 20Kx 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
This study investigated the effects of extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic field with/without iron(III) chloride (FeCl3) on bacterial growth and morphology.
The ELF exposures were carried out using a pair of Helmholtz coil-based ELF exposure system which wa...
No significant results were seen in terms of cell viability between ELF and sham-exposed bacterial s...
We concluded that ELF magnetic field exposure at 2 mT does not affect cell viability; however, it may affect bacterial surface morphology.
Show BibTeX
@article{ma_2013_effects_of_elf_magnetic_247,
author = {Esmekaya MA and Acar SI and Kıran F and Canseven AG and Osmanagaoglu O and Seyhan N. },
title = {Effects of ELF Magnetic Field in Combination with Iron(III) Chloride (FeCl3) on Cellular Growth and Surface Morphology of Escherichia coli (E. coli)},
year = {2013},
doi = {10.1007/s12010-013-0146-x},
url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12010-013-0146-x},
}