Short-term exposure to 50 Hz ELF-EMF alters the cisplatin-induced oxidative response in AT478 murine squamous cell carcinoma cells.
Bułdak RJ, Polaniak R, Bułdak L, Zwirska-Korczala K, Skonieczna M, Monsiol A, Kukla M, Duława-Bułdak A, Birkner E. · 2012
View Original AbstractELF-EMF exposure can both harm and protect cells depending on existing stress conditions, revealing EMF effects are highly context-dependent.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed mouse cancer cells to 50 Hz electromagnetic fields for 16 minutes, with and without chemotherapy drug cisplatin. The electromagnetic fields caused mild DNA damage alone but surprisingly reduced cisplatin's toxic effects when combined, showing EMF interactions depend on other environmental factors present.
Why This Matters
This study reveals a crucial principle that's often overlooked in EMF research: context matters enormously. The same 50 Hz magnetic field exposure that caused DNA damage in healthy cells actually provided a protective effect when cells were under chemical stress from cisplatin. This finding challenges the simplistic notion that EMF effects are always uniform or predictable. The 1 milliTesla exposure used here is roughly 20 times stronger than typical household magnetic field levels, but it demonstrates how EMF can act as both a mild stressor and a protective agent depending on cellular conditions. What this means for you is that EMF effects likely depend heavily on your overall health status, stress levels, and environmental exposures. The science demonstrates that our bodies don't respond to EMF in isolation but as part of a complex biological system where multiple factors interact in ways we're still discovering.
Exposure Details
- Magnetic Field
- 1 mG
- Source/Device
- 50 Hz
- Exposure Duration
- 16 min
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
The aim of this study was to assess the influence of cisplatin and an extremely low frequency electromagnetic field (ELF-EMF) on antioxidant enzyme activity and the lipid peroxidation ratio, as well as the level of DNA damage and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in AT478 carcinoma cells.
Cells were cultured for 24 and 72 h in culture medium with cisplatin. Additionally, the cells were i...
Cells that were exposed to cisplatin exhibited a significant increase in ROS and antioxidant enzyme ...
We speculate that ELF-EMF exerts differential effects depending on the exogenous conditions. This information may be of value for appraising the pathophysiologic consequences of exposure to ELF-EMF.
Show BibTeX
@article{rj_2012_shortterm_exposure_to_50_325,
author = {Bułdak RJ and Polaniak R and Bułdak L and Zwirska-Korczala K and Skonieczna M and Monsiol A and Kukla M and Duława-Bułdak A and Birkner E. },
title = {Short-term exposure to 50 Hz ELF-EMF alters the cisplatin-induced oxidative response in AT478 murine squamous cell carcinoma cells.},
year = {2012},
doi = {10.1002/bem.21732},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/bem.21732},
}