Study type: Medical/biological study (experimental study)

Effects of 50 Hz magnetic fields on gap junctional intercellular communication in NIH3T3 cells med./bio.

By: Percherancier Y, Goudeau B, Charlet de Sauvage R, de Gannes FP, Haro E, Hurtier A, Sojic N, Lagroye I, Arbault S, Veyret B
Published in: Bioelectromagnetics 2015; 36 (4): 287-293
Download citation in RIS format

Aim of study (acc. to author)

The effects of exposure of mouse fibroblasts to a 50 Hz magnetic field alone or co-exposed with TPA on gap junctional intercellular communication should be investigated.

Background/further details

Tetradecanoylphorbol acetate (TPA) inhibits gap junctional intercellular communication and was used as a positive control. Moreover, a synergistic effect of co-exposure to magnetic fields and TPA is described in literature (see Li CM et al. (1999) and Hu GL et al. (2001)), what should be examined in the present study.
Cells were divided into the following groups: 1) exposure to a 0.4 mT magnetic field, 2) exposure to a 1 mT magnetic field, 3) co-exposure to a 1 mT magnetic field and 20 ng/ml TPA, 4) positive controls and 5) sham exposure. TPA was added one hour before analysis, respectively.
Each experiment was repeated at least three times.

Endpoint

Exposure

Exposure Parameters
Exposure 1: 50 Hz
Exposure duration: continuous for 24 hours
Exposure 2: 50 Hz
Exposure duration: continuous for 24 hours

Exposure 1

Main characteristics
Frequency 50 Hz
Type
Waveform
Exposure duration continuous for 24 hours
Exposure setup
Exposure source
Chamber petri dishes
Setup petri dishes were placed in the center of a custom made vertical cylindrical coil (7.6 cm height, 9.2 cm inner diameter, 12.3 cm outer diameter; 854 turns of enameled copper wiring, 1.2 mm diameter, 14 nested layers with 61 turns per layer) inside an incubator; field was constant within 1.7% in the area of the cells; temperature was maintained at 37.0 ± 0.18°C and CO2 at 5% in the incubator and temperature in dishes was 37.0 ± 0.1°C
Sham exposure A sham exposure was conducted.
Parameters
Measurand Value Type Method Mass Remarks
magnetic flux density 0.4 mT - measured - -
Additional parameter details

the 50 Hz background field was less than 2 mT inside the incubator; the static magnetic field had 14.1 mT horizontal and 12 mT vertical components

Exposure 2

Main characteristics
Frequency 50 Hz
Type
Waveform
Exposure duration continuous for 24 hours
Exposure setup
Exposure source
Parameters
Measurand Value Type Method Mass Remarks
magnetic flux density 1 mT - measured - -

Exposed system:

Methods Endpoint/measurement parameters/methodology

Investigated system:
Time of investigation:
  • after exposure

Main outcome of study (acc. to author)

No significant differences were found in the gap junctional intercellular communication between cells exposed to a magnetic field (groups 1 and 2) and the sham exposure group. Moreover, no significant differences were found between cells co-exposed to the magnetic field and TPA (group 3) and cells exposed to TPA only (positive control).
The authors conclude that the results give no indications for an effect of exposure of mouse fibroblasts to a 50 Hz magnetic field alone or for an synergistic effect with TPA on the gap junctional intercellular communication.

Study character:

Study funded by

Related articles