Preliminary studies about effects of ELF and TAMMEF electromagnetic fields on human lymphomonocytes

Abstract

In our paper we studied the effects of exposure to ELF (extremely low frequency) or musically generated TAMMEF (therapeutic application of musically modulated electromagnetic fields) electromagnetic fields on the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) release induced by a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from cultured human lymphomonocytes of peripheral blood. Lymphomonocytes, isolated from blood donors buffy-coat, were prepared using standard techniques in cell culture flasks, kept in CO 2 incubator, with controlled temperature and humidity for 5 days. Flasks were subjected to an ELF electromagnetic field (100 Hz sinusoidal) or to TAMMEF electromagnetic fields (with intensity, frequency, and wave shape randomly modified in time, so that all possible codes can occur during a single application). The TNF-a release was determined by ELISA test every 24 h for 92 h and the results were evaluated by a non-parametric test. LPS induces a stronger TNF-a release in cultures that were subjected to ELF when compared with cultures subjected to TAMMEF, at each time period of the experimental protocol. These results seem to indicate that TAMMEF is able to induce a complex modulation of LPS-induced TNF-a release, a cytokine with pro inflammatory property whose release during chronic or neoplastic inflammatory diseases has strong negative effects on several organ systems.