Extremely low frequency variable electromagnetic fields affect cancer and noncancerous cells in vitro differently: Preliminary study

ABSTRACT

The exposure to extremely low frequency electromagnetic field (ELF-EMF) may result in various changes at the cellular level. To identify the effect of ELF-EMF exposure on viability of cells, cancer cells (U87-MG; 143B) and noncancerous cells (BJ; HEK) in exponential growth phase were exposed or sham-exposed to different values of frequency (2, 20, 30, 50 and 60 Hz), different shapes (sinusoidal, square and triangular) and time of exposure (0.5, 1, 2, 3 h) to electromagnetic field. After exposure, viability of cells was detected by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT). We found a different effect of exposition of cancer and noncancerous cells to ELF-EMF on viability of cells. This preliminary study revealed that electro magentic field(EMF) might serve as a potential tool for manipulating viability of cells.

KEYWORDS:

• 143B cells
• BJ cells
• EMF
• HEK cells
• U87-MG cells
• viability

Acknowledgments

Part of the results presented in this article and marked in the Table 1 as Experiment 3 was already published in Przegląd Elektrotechniczny 93: 161-164. Koziorowska A, Sołek P, Majchrowicz L, Romerowicz-Misielak M. 2017. The impact of EMFs with frequency of 50 Hz on metabolic activity of cells in vitro.

We thank MSc student Eng. Lena Majchrowicz for technical assistance during the experiment.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Funding

The study was performed within the project Centre of Applied Biotechnology and Basic Sciences supported by the Operational Programme Development of Eastern Poland 2007-2013, NoPOPW.01.03.00-18-018/09.

Part of the research was carried out with funding from the municipal office of Kolbuszowa, Poland.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anna Koziorowska

A. K., M. R-M., M. K conceived and designed the experiments and wrote the article.

Maria Romerowicz-Misielak

P. S. performed the experiments.

Przemysław Sołek

A. K., M. R-M analyzed the data.