Intermittent ELF-MF Induce an Amplitude-Window Effect on Umbilical Cord Blood Lymphocytes

ZASTKO, LUCIÁN; MAKINISTIAN, LEONARDO; TVAROZNÁ, ANDREA; BELYAEV, IGOR

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES

MOLECULAR DIVERSITY PRESERVATION INTERNATIONAL-MDPI

Año: 2022 vol. 23

1422-0067

In a previous study of the effects of intermittent extremely low frequency (ELF) magneticfields (MF) on umbilical cord blood lymphocytes (UCBL), we evaluated MF amplitudes between6 µT and 24 µT and found an effect only for those below 13 µT. This suggested the existence ofan amplitude window. In this brief communication, we further tested this hypothesis. UCBLsfrom healthy newborns were isolated and exposed for 72 h to an intermittent ELF-MF (triangular,7.8 Hz, 250 s ON/250 s OFF) with 6 different amplitudes between 3 µT and 12 µT, utilizing anoblong coil. Percentage of viable, early apoptotic (EA), and late apoptotic/necrotic (LAN) cellswere determined by flow cytometry. Moreover, reactive oxygen species (ROS) were determinedat 1 h and 3 h of the exposure. Like in our previous work, neither EA, nor LAN, nor ROS werestatistically significantly affected by the intermittent ELF-MF. However, the percentage of viable cells was decreased by exposure to the fields with intensities of 6.5 µT and 12 µT (p < 0.05; and p = 0.057 for 8.5 µT). ELF-MF decreased the percentage of viable cells for fields down to 6.5 µT, but not for 5 µT, 4 µT, or 3 µT. Combined with our previous findings, the results reported here indicate an amplitude window effect between 6 µT and 13 µT. The obtained data are in line with a notion of amplitude and frequency windows, which request scanning of both amplitude and frequency while studying the ELF-MF effects.