Magnetic fields and the melatonin hypothesis: a study of workers chronically exposed to 50-Hz magnetic fields
1 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine Pitié-Salpêtrière, 75013 Paris; and 2 Service des Etudes Médicales, Electricité de France/Gaz de France, 75009 Paris, France Because epidemiological studies report clinical disorders (mainly neurobehavioral alterations and/or...
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Published in | American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology Vol. 284; no. 6; pp. 1529 - R1535 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
01.06.2003
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | 1 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,
Faculty of Medicine Pitié-Salpêtrière, 75013 Paris; and 2 Service des Etudes Médicales,
Electricité de France/Gaz de France, 75009 Paris,
France
Because epidemiological studies report
clinical disorders (mainly neurobehavioral alterations and/or cancer)
that may be related to diminished melatonin secretion or to changes in
its circadian rhythm in subjects living or working in environments
exposed to magnetic fields, research on the effects of these fields in
humans is particularly important. In this study, we examine the
circadian rhythm of melatonin in 15 men exposed chronically and daily
for a period of 1-20 yr, in the workplace and at home, to a 50-Hz magnetic field in search of any cumulative effect from those chronic conditions of exposure. The weekly geometric mean of individual exposures ranged from 0.1 to 2.6 µT. The results are compared with
those for 15 unexposed men who served as controls (individual exposures
ranged from 0.004 to 0.092 µT). Blood samples were taken hourly from
2000 to 0800. Nighttime urine was also collected and analyzed. This
work shows that subjects exposed over a long period (up to 20 yr) and
on a daily basis to magnetic fields experienced no changes in their
plasma melatonin level, their urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin level, or
the circadian rhythm of melatonin. Our data strongly suggest that
magnetic fields do not have cumulative effects on melatonin secretion
in humans and thus clearly rebut the "melatonin hypothesis" that a
decrease in plasma melatonin concentration (or a disruption in its
secretion) explains the occurrence of clinical disorders or cancers
possibly related to magnetic fields.
melatonin; magnetic fields; 6-sulfatoxymelatonin; circadian
rhythms. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0363-6119 1522-1490 |
DOI: | 10.1152/ajpregu.00280.2002 |