Myocardial Protection Conferred by Electromagnetic Fields

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Abstract
Background —It has been reported that electromagnetic (EM) fields induce stress proteins in vitro. These proteins have been shown to be important in recovery from ischemia/reperfusion. It was, therefore, hypothesized that EM fields could activate stress responses in vivo and protect myocardial tissue during anoxia. Methods and Results —Chick embryos were exposed to 4-, 6-, 8-, and 10-μT and 60-Hz EM fields for 20 minutes followed by a 1-hour rest period before placement in an anoxic chamber. Embryos were reoxygenated when survival of controls dropped to 500 EM field-exposed embryos) indicated that EM field protection was extremely significant ( P Conclusions —We conclude that athermal EM field exposures induce stress responses that protect chick embryo myocardium from anoxia damage. These results suggest that EM field exposures may be a useful, noninvasive means of minimizing myocardial damage during surgery, transplantation, or heart attack in humans.