Effects of 50-hertz electromagnetic fields on proliferation and on chromosomal alterations in human peripheral lymphocytes untreated or pretreated with chemical mutagens.

Cultivation of human peripheral lymphocytes (HPL) in the presence of 50-Hz electromagnetic fields (EMFs) does not alter the spontaneous frequencies of sister-chromatid exchanges (SCE) and of chromosomal aberrations (CA), but leads to an enhancement of the cell cycle progression of HPLs in vitro. Pretreatment of HPLs with trenimon (TRN), diepoxybutane (DEB), or methylnitrosourea (MNU) in the G0 phase of the cell cycle results in dose-dependent elevations of the SCE frequencies. In some cases culturing of HPLs pretreated with MNU or TRN in the presence of EMFs led to significantly higher frequencies of SCEs when compared to cells cultivated in the absence of EMFs. Since we did not use multiple fixation times these data may rather result from differential influences on HPL subsets than from EMF exposure.