Exposure of Human Cells to Electromagnetic Fields
Abstract
This study addressed the following basic question: How does extremely low-level non-ionizing radiation affect human cells, and if there are cellular responses that can be directly related to signal parameters such as frequency, amplitude and time of exposure? The focus of these studies was to identify transcriptional changes in human cultured cells, HL60, which result from exposure of these cells to defined extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (elf EMFS). Our experiments show a pronounced measurable response observed as transcript increase, with associated changes in protein synthesis. The major findings relative to transcriptional changes are fourfold: (1) transcript changes in human cells correlate with previous findings of transcriptional and translational changes in Drosophila salivary gland cells; (2) the frequency of the signal in the amplitude (with resulting changes in E- and B-fields) in log increments from 0.5 to 500 uV at 60 Hz gives both amplitude and time-dependent windows, and (4) genes not usually expressed in HL-60 are unaffected by exposure to elf EMFs. Changes in the overall protein synthetic pattern have also been observed following exposure of HL60 cells to 60 Hz signals.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 27, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA219377
Entities
People
- Ann S. Henderson
- R. Goodman
Organizations
- City University of New York