Author: de Kleijn S1, Ferwerda G1, Wiese M2, Trentelman J3, Cuppen J4, Kozicz T5, de Jager L2, Hermans PW1, Verburg-van Kemenade BM3
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Laboratory of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
<sup>2</sup>Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Central University of Technology, Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
<sup>3</sup>Cell Biology and Immunology Group, Department of Animal Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
<sup>4</sup>Immunent B.V. and Neiding B.V., Veldhoven, The Netherlands.
<sup>5</sup>Faculty of Science, Department of Cellular Animal Physiology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Conference/Journal: Bioelectromagnetics.
Date published: 2016 Aug 24
Other:
Special Notes: doi: 10.1002/bem.21998. [Epub ahead of print] , Word Count: 218
There is still uncertainty whether extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) can induce health effects like immunomodulation. Despite evidence obtained in vitro, an unambiguous association has not yet been established in vivo. Here, mice were exposed to ELF-EMF for 1, 4, and 24 h/day in a short-term (1 week) and long-term (15 weeks) set-up to investigate whole body effects on the level of stress regulation and immune response. ELF-EMF signal contained multiple frequencies (20-5000 Hz) and a magnetic flux density of 10 μT. After exposure, blood was analyzed for leukocyte numbers (short-term and long-term) and adrenocorticotropic hormone concentration (short-term only). Furthermore, in the short-term experiment, stress-related parameters, corticotropin-releasing hormone, proopiomelanocortin (POMC) and CYP11A1 gene-expression, respectively, were determined in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus, pituitary, and adrenal glands. In the short-term but not long-term experiment, leukocyte counts were significantly higher in the 24 h-exposed group compared with controls, mainly represented by increased neutrophils and CD4 ± lymphocytes. POMC expression and plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone were significantly lower compared with unexposed control mice. In conclusion, short-term ELF-EMF exposure may affect hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activation in mice. Changes in stress hormone release may explain changes in circulating leukocyte numbers and composition. Bioelectromagnetics. © 2016 The Authors. Bioelectromagnetics Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
© 2016 The Authors. Bioelectromagnetics Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
KEYWORDS: ELF-EMF; immune response; in vivo exposure; leukocytes; stress
PMID: 27553635 DOI: 10.1002/bem.21998