Effects of long-term exposure of extremely low frequency magnetic field on oxidative/nitrosative stress in rat liver.
Erdal N, Gürgül S, Tamer L, Ayaz L · 2008
View Original AbstractLong-term magnetic field exposure at power line levels caused liver damage in female rats, highlighting gender-specific EMF health risks.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed rats to 50Hz magnetic fields (the same frequency as power lines) for 4 hours daily over 45 days to study liver damage. They found that female rats showed increased oxidative stress markers in their liver tissue, indicating cellular damage to proteins. This suggests that long-term exposure to power frequency magnetic fields may harm liver function, particularly in females.
Why This Matters
This study adds to mounting evidence that extremely low frequency magnetic fields can cause measurable biological harm, even at exposure levels we encounter daily. The 1 milliTesla field strength used here is comparable to what you might experience standing directly under high-voltage power lines, though much stronger than typical household exposures (which range from 0.01 to 0.2 milliTesla). What makes this research particularly significant is the gender-specific response - only female rats showed liver damage markers. This pattern of sex-specific EMF sensitivity appears repeatedly in the scientific literature, yet regulatory agencies continue to set exposure limits based on averaged responses that ignore these crucial differences. The finding that protein damage occurred without corresponding lipid damage suggests EMF exposure may trigger specific biochemical pathways rather than causing generalized cellular chaos.
Exposure Details
- Magnetic Field
- 1 mG
- Source/Device
- 50Hz
- Exposure Duration
- 4h/day for 45 days
Exposure Context
This study used 1 mG for magnetic fields:
- 50Kx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.2 mG
- 10Kx 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
Thirty-two adult Wistar-Albino female and male rats were used to investigate the long-term (45 days) effects of extremely low frequency magnetic field (ELF-MF; 50Hz, 1mT, 4h/day) exposure on oxidative/nitrosative stress in liver tissues of rats.
The rats were divided randomly into four groups: female control (FC; n = 8) and MF-exposed female ra...
There were no significant differences between the MDA levels of the control (FC; MC) and MF-exposed ...
In conclusion, our study suggests that the long-term ELF-MF exposure may enhance the oxidative/nitrosative stress in liver tissue of the female rats and could have a deteriorative effect on cellular proteins rather than lipids by enhancing 3-NT formation.
Show BibTeX
@article{n_2008_effects_of_longterm_exposure_354,
author = {Erdal N and Gürgül S and Tamer L and Ayaz L},
title = {Effects of long-term exposure of extremely low frequency magnetic field on oxidative/nitrosative stress in rat liver.},
year = {2008},
url = {https://academic.oup.com/jrr/article/49/2/181/935400?login=true},
}