Effects of exposure to a 50 Hz sinusoidal magnetic field during the early adolescent period on spatial memory in mice.
Wang X, Zhao K, Wang D, Adams W, Fu Y, Sun H, Liu X, Yu H, Ma Y. · 2013
View Original AbstractAdolescent mice exposed to power-line frequency magnetic fields showed improved spatial memory, challenging assumptions about EMF effects on developing brains.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed adolescent mice to 50 Hz magnetic fields (the same frequency as power lines) for one hour daily during a critical brain development period. Surprisingly, the exposed mice showed improved spatial learning and memory compared to unexposed mice. This unexpected finding suggests that certain EMF exposures during development might enhance rather than harm specific brain functions, though the implications for human health remain unclear.
Why This Matters
This study presents an intriguing twist in EMF research by showing cognitive enhancement rather than impairment. The 2 mT exposure level is significantly higher than typical household exposures (which range from 0.01-0.2 mT near appliances), making direct human relevance questionable. However, the timing matters enormously here - the researchers exposed mice during early adolescence, a critical period for brain development when neural circuits are still forming. What makes this particularly noteworthy is that most EMF research focuses on negative effects, yet this study found improved spatial memory performance. The reality is that EMF effects may be far more complex than simple 'harmful or harmless' categories suggest. While one shouldn't interpret this as evidence that EMF exposure is beneficial, it does highlight how much we still don't understand about electromagnetic field interactions with developing brains.
Exposure Details
- Magnetic Field
- 2 mG
- Source/Device
- 50 Hz
- Exposure Duration
- 60 min/day.
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
The aim of this study is to observe Effects of exposure to a 50 Hz sinusoidal magnetic field during the early adolescent period on spatial memory in mice.
In this study, early adolescent male mice were exposed from postnatal day (P) 23–35 to a 50 Hz MF at...
The results showed that the MF exposure did not affect Y-maze performance but improved spatial learn...
Show BibTeX
@article{x_2013_effects_of_exposure_to_730,
author = {Wang X and Zhao K and Wang D and Adams W and Fu Y and Sun H and Liu X and Yu H and Ma Y.},
title = {Effects of exposure to a 50 Hz sinusoidal magnetic field during the early adolescent period on spatial memory in mice.},
year = {2013},
doi = {10.1002/bem.21775},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/bem.21775},
}