Immune system in rats responded to a 50 Hz electromagnetic field: platelets down, one white blood cell type up, blood potassium doubled

November 1, 2026 (EMFS)

Oct 6, 2026 (original)

Source: WSEAS Transactions on Biology and Biomedicine

Source category: Research

Nikolaishvili and colleagues at the Laboratory of Radiobiology in Tbilisi exposed eight rats to a 50 Hz electromagnetic field of 2 millitesla continuously for 24 hours and compared them with eight unexposed controls. Platelet counts, the clotting cells in blood, fell by about 48 per cent, plasma potassium more than doubled and the share of basophils, one type of white blood cell, roughly doubled. Monocytes, another white blood cell, the antioxidant enzyme catalase and the signalling proteins IL-1 and IL-10 did not change significantly. The authors call it a pilot study and say the spread between individual animals was too wide to point to a single mechanism.

Exposure note: The field was produced by a Helmholtz coil around the cage and monitored with a calibrated magnetometer at 2 millitesla and 50 Hz, running for 24 hours without a break while the animals moved freely with food and water. This is a laboratory dose rather than an environmental one: 2 millitesla is ten times the 200 microtesla reference level that the 2010 ICNIRP low-frequency guidelines set for public exposure at 50 Hz (see Table 4, page 827). The same guidelines set 1 millitesla as the reference level for occupational exposure at 50 Hz (Table 3, same page), so the dose here is twice the maximum a worker should ever meet.

Quotes

"a significant increase in plasma potassium concentrations collected from the rats' tail veins was recorded (from 5.49 ± 0.46 to 13.07 ± 3.05 mmol/L)."

— Nikolaishvili et al., WSEAS Transactions on Biology and Biomedicine

"At the same time, the percentage of basophils in the blood increased significantly from 0.50 ± 0.09 to 1.03 ± 0.10%"

— Nikolaishvili et al., WSEAS Transactions on Biology and Biomedicine

"The high standard deviation of immune system biomarkers allows us to conclude that the body responds through the involvement of individual mechanisms."

— Nikolaishvili et al., WSEAS Transactions on Biology and Biomedicine

Exposure

"We placed the experimental group wild-type albino rats in a special coil generating an electromagnetic field of 2 mT at a frequency of 50 Hz for 24 hours."

— Nikolaishvili et al., WSEAS Transactions on Biology and Biomedicine

Location

📍 Tbilisi, Georgia

Source

24h Extremely Low Frequency Electromagnetic Field Exposure Modulates Immune Responses in Rats wseas.com

📄 Underlying Research

24h Extremely Low Frequency Electromagnetic Field Exposure Modulates Immune Responses in Rats

Nikolaishvili M, Tarkhnishvili A, Phevadze K, Natadze D, Dondoladze K (2026) WSEAS Transactions on Biology and Biomedicine Journal Level 0ⓘ

🔗 DOI

Immune system in rats responded to a 50 Hz electromagnetic field: platelets down, one white blood cell type up, blood potassium doubled

Source

📄 Underlying Research

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