Effect of ambient levels of power‐line‐frequency electric fields on a developing vertebrate

Abstract

Fertilized eggs of Gallus domesticus were exposed continuously during their 21‐day incubation period to either 50‐ or 60‐Hz sinusoidal electric fields at an average intensity of 10 Vrms/m. The exposure apparatus was housed in an environmental room maintained at 37°C and 55–60% relative humidity (RH). Within 1.5 days after hatching, the chickens were removed from the apparatus and tested. The test consisted of examining the effect of 50‐ or 60‐Hz electromagnetic fields at 15.9 Vrms/m and 73 nTrms (in a local geomagnetic field of 38 μT, 85°N) on efflux of calcium ions from the chicken brain. For eggs exposed to 60‐Hz electric fields during incubation, the chicken brains demonstrated a significant response to 50‐Hz fields but not to 60‐Hz fields, in agreement with the results from commercially incubated eggs [Blackman et al., 1985a]. In contrast, the brains from chicks exposed during incubation to 50‐Hz fields were not affected by either 50‐ or 60‐Hz fields. These results demonstrate that exposure of a developing organism to ambient power‐line‐frequency electric fields at levels typically found inside buildings can alter the response of brain tissue to field‐induced calcium‐ion efflux. The physiological significance of this finding has yet to be established.