Effects on micronuclei formation of 60-Hz electromagnetic field exposure with ionizing radiation, hydrogen peroxide, or c-Myc overexpression

Abstract

Purpose: Epidemiological studies have demonstrated a possible correlation between exposure to extremely low-frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) and cancer. However, this correlation has yet to be definitively confirmed by epidemiological studies. The principal objective of this study was to assess the effects of 60 Hz magnetic fields in a normal cell line system, and particularly in combination with various external factors, via micronucleus (MN) assays. Materials and methods: Mouse embryonic fibroblast NIH3T3 cells and human lung fibroblast WI-38 cells were exposed for 4 h to a 60 Hz, 1 mT uniform magnetic field with or without ionizing radiation (IR, 2 Gy), H₂O₂ (100 μM) and cellular myelocytomatosis oncogene (c-Myc) activation. Results: The results obtained showed no significant differences between the cells exposed to ELF-MF alone and the unexposed cells. Moreover, no synergistic effects were observed when ELF-MF was combined with IR, H₂O₂, and c-Myc activation. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that ELF-MF did not enhance MN frequency by IR, H₂O₂ and c-Myc activation.

Keywords::

• Extremely low frequency
• combined treatment
• micronuclei formation

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a Power Generation & Electricity Delivery of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology, Evaluation, and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy and also supported by the Ewha Global Top5 Grant 2011 of Ewha Womans University.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.