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Brain & Nervous System

Short term effects of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields exposure on Alzheimer's disease in rats.

No Effects Found

Zhang Y, Liu X, Zhang J, Li N. · 2014

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Short-term exposure to 100 μT/50 Hz ELF-EMF had no effects on cognition, memory, Aβ expression, or neuron morphology in rats.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers exposed 20 healthy male Sprague Dawley rats to 100 μT/50 Hz ELF-EMF or sham exposure for 12 weeks. The Morris water maze test showed no cognitive or memory impairment in the exposed rats compared to sham-exposed rats. Body weight, Aβ levels, and neuron morphology showed no significant changes between groups.

Why This Matters

The study aimed to investigate how ELF-EMF exposure interacts with memory impairment in rats. Amyloid-beta content was measured in cortex, hippocampus, and plasma using ELISA assays. Neuron morphology was assessed using H&E staining. The authors noted that more comprehensive studies are needed to clarify possible effects and mechanisms of ELF-EMF exposure.

Exposure Details

Magnetic Field
0.1 mT
Source/Device
50 Hz ELF-EMF
Exposure Duration
12 weeks

Exposure Context

This study used 0.1 mT for magnetic fields:

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 Exposure Level in ContextStudy Exposure Level in ContextThis study: 0.1 mTExtreme Concern - 5 mGFCC Limit - 2,000 mGEffects observed in the Extreme Concern range (Building Biology)FCC limit is 2 times higher than this level
A logarithmic frequency spectrum from 10 Hz to 100 GHz showing where this study's 50 Hz exposure sits relative to common EMF sources.Where This Frequency Sits on the EMF SpectrumELFVLFLF / MFHF / VHFUHFSHFmm10 Hz100 GHzThis study: 50 HzCell phones~1 GHzWiFi2.4 GHz5G mm28 GHzLogarithmic scale

Study Details

The objective of the present study was to investigate the interaction between ELF-EMF exposure and memory impairment in rats.

Twenty healthy male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into two groups (n = 10). Animals...

After exposure, the body weight of rats showed no difference compared with the control group. The ap...

The present study indicated that short-term exposure of 100 μT/50 Hz ELF-EMF had no effects on cognition and memory of rats, and did not alter the expression of Aβ and the neuron morphology. However, more comprehensive studies are still required to elucidate the possible effects and underlying mechanisms of ELF-EMF exposure on living organisms.

Cite This Study
Zhang Y, Liu X, Zhang J, Li N. (2014). Short term effects of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields exposure on Alzheimer's disease in rats. Int J Radiat Biol. 2014 Aug 13:1-35.
Show BibTeX
@article{y_2014_short_term_effects_of_2835,
  author = {Zhang Y and Liu X and Zhang J and Li N.},
  title = {Short term effects of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields exposure on Alzheimer's disease in rats.},
  year = {2014},
  doi = {10.3109/09553002.2014.954058},
  url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/09553002.2014.954058},
}
DOI: 10.3109/09553002.2014.954058

Cited By (41 papers)

Quick Questions About This Study

Rats were exposed to 100 μT/50 Hz ELF-EMF for 12 weeks starting at 12 weeks of age.
The Morris water maze test showed no cognitive or memory impairment in rats exposed to ELF-EMF compared to sham-exposed rats.
Aβ levels showed no significant change between groups, and no histological changes were observed in neurons.
Body weight showed no difference between the ELF-EMF exposed group and the control group after exposure.
The authors stated that more comprehensive studies are required to elucidate possible effects and mechanisms of ELF-EMF exposure on living organisms.