Exposure of rats to a 50-Hz, 100 μTesla magnetic field does not affect the ex vivo production of interleukins by activated T or B lymphocytes
✍ Scribed by Monika Häußler; Susanne Thun-Battersby; Meike Mevissen; Wolfgang Löscher
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 119 KB
- Volume
- 20
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0197-8462
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✦ Synopsis
Two separate, independent experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of exposure of rats to a 50-Hz linearly polarized, 100 T magnetic field (MF) on the ex vivo production of interleukins (ILs) by mitogen-stimulated splenic lymphocytes. IL-1 and IL-2 were determined by proliferation assays, using IL-dependent murine T cell lines. In the first experiment, female Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA] at a dose of 20 mg per rat (four weekly gavage doses of 5 mg), and were either MF-exposed or sham-exposed for 14 weeks. This experimental protocol has previously been shown to result in a significant increase in breast cancer growth in response to MF exposure. Furthermore, MF exposure at 50 -100 T for 3 months was recently found to induce a suppressed ex vivo proliferation of splenic T cells in response to mitogen stimulation, which could be a result of reduced IL production of spleen lymphocytes. However, the present experiments failed to demonstrate any significant difference between MF-and sham-exposed groups in production of IL-1 by mitogen-activated splenic B cells. In a second experiment, shorter MF exposure periods were studied with respect to IL production from mitogen-stimulated B and T cells. Groups of rats were MF-or sham-exposed for 1 day, 1 week, or 2 weeks, followed by preparation and activation of spleen lymphocytes. No significant difference in IL-1 or IL-2 production from stimulated B or T cells was seen. The data indicate that in vivo MF exposure of rats does not affect the ex vivo IL production of B or T lymphocytes, suggesting that the recently reported changes in T cell proliferation in response to MF exposure may not be mediated via alterations in B or T cell IL production. Bioelectromagnetics 20: 295-305, 1999.