Effect of 60 Hz electromagnetic fields on the activity of hsp70 promoter: an in vivo study

• Published in: Cell Biology International Reports (London) Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 1 - 5
• Main Authors: Fuente, Rodríguez‐De Abraham O., Alcocer‐González, Juan M., Heredia‐Rojas, J. Antonio, Rodríguez‐Padilla, Cristina, Rodríguez‐Flores, Laura E., Santoyo‐Stephano, Martha A., Castañeda‐Garza, Esperanza, Tamëz‐Guerra, Reyes S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 26.03.2012; Portland Press Ltd
• Subjects: 60 Hz electromagnetic fields; gene expression; Hsp70 promoter; in vivo; luciferase; muscle; Hsp70 promoter; NF-κB, nuclear factor κB; 60 Hz electromagnetic fields; EMF, electromagnetic field; hsp70, heat-shock protein 70; PEMF, pulsed EMF; ETS, E twenty-six; iNOS, inducible nitric oxide synthase; muscle; luciferase; in vivo; RLU, relative light units; MCP-1, monocyte chemotactic protein-1; gene expression; pEMF, EMF plasmid
• ISSN: 2041-5346; 2041-5346
• DOI: 10.1042/CBR20110010

Exposure to EMFs (electromagnetic fields) results in a number of important biological changes, including modification of genetic expression. We have investigated the effect of 60 Hz sinusoidal EMFs at a magnetic flux density of 80 μT on the expression of the luciferase gene contained in a plasmid labelled as pEMF (EMF plasmid). This gene construct contains the specific sequences for the induction of hsp70 (heat‐shock protein 70) expression by EMFs, as well as the reporter for the luciferase gene. The pEMF vector was electrotransferred into quadriceps muscles of BALB/c mice that were later exposed to EMFs. Increased luciferase expression was observed in mice exposed to EMFs 2 h daily for 7 days compared with controls (P<0.05). These data along with other reports in the literature suggest that EMFs can have far‐reaching effects on the genome.