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In previous experiments changes were found in calcium-ion efflux from chick-brain tissue that had been exposed in vitro to 147-MHz radiation across a specific range of power densities when the field was amplitude modulated at 16 Hz. In the present study, 50-MHz radiation, similarly modulated as a sinusoid, was found to produce changes in calcium-ion efflux from chick brains exposed in vitro in a Crawford cell. Exposure conditions were optimized to broaden any power-density window and to enhance the opportunity to detect changes in the calcium-ion efflux. The results of a power-density series demonstrated two effective ranges: One spanning a range from 1.44 to 1.67 mW/cm2, and the other including 3.64 mW/cm2, which were bracketed by no-effect results at 0.72, 2.17, and 4.32 mW/cm2. peaks of positive findings are associated with near-identical rates of energy absorption: 1.4 microW/g at 147 MHz, and 1.3 microW/g at 50 MHz, which indicates that the enhanced-efflux phenomenon is more dependent on the intensity of fields in the brain than on the power density of incident radiation. In addition, the phenomenon appears to occur at multiples of some, as yet unknown, rate of radiofrequency (RF) energy absorption. Because of the extremely small increments of temperature associated with positive findings (less than 4 X 10(-4) degrees C), and the existence of more than one productive absorption rate, a solely thermal explanation appears extremely unlikely.

Two independent laboratories have demonstrated that electromagnetic radiation at specific frequencies can cause a change in the efflux of calcium ions from brain tissue in vitro. In a local geomagnetic field (LGF) at a density of 38 microTesla (microT), 15- and 45-Hz electromagnetic signals (40 Vp-p/m in air) have been shown to induce a change in the efflux of calcium ions from the exposed tissues, whereas 1- and 30-Hz signals do not. We now show that the effective 15-Hz signal can be rendered ineffective when the LGF is reduced to 19 microT with Helmholtz coils. In addition, the ineffective 30-Hz signal becomes effective when the LGF is changed to +/- 25.3 microT or to +/- 76 microT. These results demonstrate that the net intensity of the LGF is an important variable. The results appear to describe a resonance-like relationship in which the frequency of the electromagnetic field that can induce a change in efflux is proportional to a product of LGF density and an index, 2n + 1, where n = 0,1. These phenomenological findings may provide a basis for evaluating the apparent lack of reproducibility of biological effects caused by low-intensity extremely-low-frequency (ELF) electromagnetic signals. In future investigations of this phenomenon, the LGF vector should be explicitly described. If the underlying mechanism involves a general property of tissue, then research conducted in the ambient electromagnetic environment (50/60 Hz) may be subjected to unnoticed and uncontrolled influences, depending on the density of the LGF.

We have previously shown that 16-Hz, sinusoidal electromagnetic fields can cause enhanced efflux of calcium ions from chick brain tissue, in vitro, in two intensity regions centered on 6 and 40 Vp-p/m. Alternatively, 1-Hz and 30-Hz fields at 40 Vp-p/m did not cause enhanced efflux. We now demonstrate that although there is no enhanced efflux associated with a 42-Hz field at 30, 40, 50, or 60 Vp-p/m, a 45-Hz field causes enhanced efflux in an intensity range around 40 Vp-p/m that is essentially identical to the response observed for 16-Hz fields. Fields at 50 Hz induce enhanced efflux in a narrower intensity region between 45 and 50 Vp-p/m, while radiofrequency carrier waves, amplitude modulated at 50 Hz, also display enhanced efflux over a narrow power density range. Electromagnetic fields at 60 Hz cause enhanced efflux only at 35 and 40 Vp-p/m, intensities slightly lower than those that are effective at 50 Hz. Finally, exposures over a series of frequencies at 42.5 Vp-p/m reveal two frequency regions that elicit enhanced efflux--one centered on 15 Hz, the other extending from 45 to 105 Hz.

To explain a carrier frequency dependence reported for radiofrequency (RF)-induced calcium-ion efflux from brain tissue, a chick-brain hemisphere bathed in buffer solution is modeled as a sphere within the uniform field of the incident electromagnetic wave. Calculations on a spherical model show that the average electric-field intensity within the sample remains the same at different carrier frequencies if the incident power density (Pi) is adjusted by an amount that compensates for the change in complex permittivity (epsilon *r) and the change of wavelength, as a function of carrier frequency. The resulting formula for transforming Pi is seen to follow the pattern of both positive and negative demonstrations of calcium-ion efflux that have been observed at carrier frequencies of 50, 147, and 450 MHz. Indeed, all results obtained at these three frequencies, when related by Pi's that produce the same average electric-field intensity within the sample, are seen to be in agreement; no prediction is contradicted by an experiment.