Effects of 50 Hz magnetic field exposure on protein tyrosine phosphorylation in cultured cells

Protein phosphorylation is an extremely important and widely used mechanism of cellular regulation. Here, the effects of 50 Hz magnetic fields (MFs) o n tyrosine phosphorylation were studied. A Chinese hamster lung (CHL) cell line was exposed to 50 Hz magnetic fields at two intensities (0.4 mT and 0. 8 mT) for different exposure durations, and western blot analysis was used to measure the degree of tyrosine phosphorylation of cellular proteins. Res ults showed that both 0.4 mT and 0.8 mT 50 Hz magnetic fields could affect the protein tyrosine phosphorylation in cultured cells. Both intensities co uld affect the tyrosine phosphorylation of 38 and 97.4 kDa proteins. In add ition, 0.4 mT could affect tyrosine phosphorylation of 61.7, 105, and 112 k Da proteins, and 0.8 mT affected the tyrosine phosphorylation of 79 and 150 kDa proteins. Moreover, all the tyrosine phosphorylation changes of these proteins were time-dependent. The findings from this study demonstrated tha t under these experimental conditions, there was evidence that protein tyro sine phosphorylation was a possible process for ELF-EMF producing bioeffect s.