Effects of extremely low-frequency pulsed electromagnetic fields on morphological and biochemical properties of human breast carcinoma cells (T47D).
Sadeghipour R, Ahmadian S, Bolouri B, Pazhang Y, Shafiezadeh M · 2012
View Original AbstractCancer cells showed frequency-specific responses to EMF, with 217 Hz causing dramatic cellular stress while 100 Hz had minimal effects.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed human breast cancer cells to low-frequency electromagnetic fields and found the EMF slowed cancer cell growth while increasing cellular stress. Higher frequencies (217 Hz) caused more dramatic effects than lower ones (100 Hz), showing cancer cells respond differently to specific EMF frequencies.
Why This Matters
This research adds to growing evidence that EMF effects on cells are highly frequency-specific, supporting what researchers call 'biological windows' where certain frequencies trigger responses while others don't. The 0.1 mT exposure level used here is roughly equivalent to standing directly under high-voltage power lines, significantly higher than typical household exposures which range from 0.01-0.2 mT. What makes this study particularly noteworthy is its demonstration that 217 Hz dramatically increased oxidative stress in cancer cells while 100 Hz did not, despite identical field strength. The reality is that our power grid operates at 50-60 Hz, but many electronic devices create harmonics and pulsed fields at higher frequencies. While this was a laboratory study on cancer cells rather than healthy human tissue, it reinforces that we can't assume all EMF frequencies have the same biological impact.
Exposure Details
- Magnetic Field
- 0.1 mG
- Source/Device
- 100 and 217 Hz
- Exposure Duration
- 24-72 h
Exposure Context
This study used 0.1 mG for magnetic fields:
- 5Kx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.2 mG
- 1Kx 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 was carried out to investigate the effects of 100 and 217 Hz extremely low-frequency pulsed electromagnetic fields (ELF-PEMF) on cell proliferation, actin reorganization, and ROS generation in a human breast carcinoma cells (T47D).
Cells were exposed for 24-72 h, at 100 and 217 Hz, 0.1 mT.
The treatment induced a time dependent decrease in cell growth after 72 h and revealed an increase ...
Our results support the hypothesis that cell response to EMF may only be observed at certain window effects; such as frequency and intensity of EMF parameters.
Show BibTeX
@article{r_2012_effects_of_extremely_lowfrequency_454,
author = {Sadeghipour R and Ahmadian S and Bolouri B and Pazhang Y and Shafiezadeh M},
title = {Effects of extremely low-frequency pulsed electromagnetic fields on morphological and biochemical properties of human breast carcinoma cells (T47D).},
year = {2012},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22676212/},
}