INTERACTIONS BETWEEN ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS AND IMMUNE SYSTEM: POSSIBLE MECHANISM FOR PAIN CONTROL

Abstract

Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) of different types (static and time varying, continuous and pulsed), with a wide frequency range (1 Hz-70 GHz) and with a broad intensity range (1 µT-15 T) have been reported to interact with immune cells. However, most of the publications lack the basic information, which would explain the choice of a particular signal. In vivo, EMFs have been shown to significantly reduce pain levels in patients suffering from various diseases. This led to hypothesis that the beneficial effects of EMFs could be achieved by regulating inflammatory immune processes. The objective of this paper is to summarize current EMF studies on immune cells such as B and T lymphocytes, and to determine important principles of cellular EMF interactions with the goal to improve our understanding on how EMFs function in medicine. An apparent obstacle to achieving this goal was the lack of information in the published literature on the selection and physical characteristics of a particular EMF signal. These include a detailed characterization of the EMF by wave shape, amplitude, frequency, modulation, component (electrical, magnetic or both), vector, gradient, exposure time,