title: The effect of low-frequency pulsed magnetic fields on chick embryonic growth.
abstract: There are many claims made for biological effects of low-frequency pulsed magnetic fields ranging from beneficial to harmful, but few have been independently verified. The ubiquitous nature of both natural and man-made magnetic fields makes the possibility of biological interaction a potentially important subject. We have investigated the claimed stimulatory action of low-frequency pulsed magnetic fields, of a type used clinically, on the growth of embryonic chicks. Four day old embryos were exposed to a magnetic field, peak field strength 2.1 mT pulsed in 5 ms bursts repeated at 15 Hz, for 100 h. Embryo weights and long-bone lengths were compared to sham-exposed controls. Particular care was taken to reduce temperature differences between the test and control groups because this model has a known sensitivity to small temperature changes. We found no increase in embryonic growth due to this low-frequency pulsed magnetic field and hence have been unable to confirm earlier findings by other workers using the same model. We conclude that rigorous design of experimental protocol and a full description of the physical parameters are essential in studies purporting to show effects of electromagnetic fields if the results are to be confirmed by other workers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, University of Sheffield.
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Coulton
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Barker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000528:radiation effects; D002642:Chick Embryo / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects*; D008280:Magnetics; D010012:Osteogenesis / Q000528:radiation effects*; D012016:Reference Values