The effects of extremely low frequency magnetic fields on mutation induction in mice

The growing human exposure to extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields has raised a considerable concern regarding their genotoxic effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vivo effects of ELF magnetic fields irradiation on mutation induction in the germline and somatic tissues of male mice. Seven week old BALB/c×CBA/Ca F₁ hybrid males were exposed to 10, 100 or 300μT of 50Hz magnetic fields for 2 or 15h. Using single-molecule PCR, the frequency of mutation at the mouse Expanded Simple Tandem Repeat (ESTR) locus Ms6-hm was established in sperm and blood samples of exposed and matched sham-treated males. ESTR mutation frequency was also established in sperm and blood samples taken from male mice exposed to 1Gy of acute X-rays. The frequency of ESTR mutation in DNA samples extracted from blood of mice exposed to magnetic fields did not significantly differ from that in sham-treated controls. However, there was a marginally significant increase in mutation frequency in sperm but this was not dose-dependent. In contrast, acute exposure X-rays led to significant increases in mutation frequency in sperm and blood of exposed males. The results of our study suggest that, within the range of doses analyzed here, the in vivo mutagenic effects of ELF magnetic fields are likely to be minor if not negligible.