Abstract
In order to study the effect of electromagnetic fields (0.3 mT, 50 Hz) on some biomechanical and biochemical properties of rats' blood, healthy thirty male albino rats of 150 +/- 10 g were divided into three equal groups namely A, B1, B2. Group A used as a control group, group B1 was continuously exposed to a magnetic field of (0.3 mT, 50 Hz) for a period of 21 days for direct effect studies. Group B2 was continuously exposed to the same magnetic field for the same period of time, then was housed away from the magnetic field for a period of 45 days for delayed effects studies. After examination, the results indicated that the apparent viscosity and the consistency index increased significantly and very high significantly for groub B1 and B2 compared to control at P<0.05. Red blood cell counts (RBCs) membrane elasticity had significantly and very high significantly decreased for groups B1 and B2. Moreover, delayed effects studies indicated that there is deterioration in the bone marrow functions. These results are supported by the blood film image, where irregularities and deformations in the RBCs membranes had been occurred. We conclude that the cell membrane properties are highly affected by the extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields, which proved to be biologically toxic.