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 field exposure damaged bacterial cell membranes even when standard viability tests showed no effect, revealing hidden cellular damage.
Plain English Summary
Scientists exposed E. coli bacteria to 50 Hz magnetic fields for 24 hours. While the bacteria survived normally, the magnetic field exposure damaged their cell surfaces, creating holes and destroying membranes. This shows EMF can harm cells even when they appear healthy overall.
Why This Matters
This study reveals something important about how we assess EMF biological effects. The researchers found that standard viability tests showed no harm, but deeper investigation using electron microscopy revealed clear structural damage to bacterial cell membranes. This pattern appears repeatedly in EMF research - effects that aren't immediately obvious through conventional testing become apparent with more sophisticated analysis. The 2 millitesla exposure level used here is quite high compared to typical household magnetic field exposure, which usually ranges from 0.01 to 0.2 millitesla. However, the finding that EMF can damage cell membranes while leaving basic cellular functions intact raises questions about what other subtle but potentially significant effects we might be missing when we only look at surface-level indicators of biological harm.
Exposure Details
- Magnetic Field
- 2 mG
- Source/Device
- 50 Hz
- Exposure Duration
- 24 h
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_641,
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},
}