Abstract
In order to estimate the genetic effects of magnetic fields, a somatic cell test was performed using mutants of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster which lack repair functions for damage to their cellular deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Young larvae of mutant and normal genotypes were exposed to a homogeneuos 0.6 T magnetic field for 24 h and were then allowed to continue development under normal culture condition until they moulted and finally emerged from their pupal cases. After eclosion, the number of surviving adults was counted. The number of adults of the mutant genotype decreased by about 8% compared with unexposed controls, while that of normal siblings remained unchanged. This suggests that exposure to a static magnetic field resulted in damage to larval cellular DNA, and that somatic cells without normal DNA repair functions failed to continue cell division which resulted in developmental lethality of mutant larvae. DNA damage occurring in normal larvae should have been repaired, so that their survival rate was not altered. The effect was compared with that of UV irradiation, and the genotoxic activity of the 0.6 T static magnetic field was estimated to be the same as that of UV light with an intensity of 0.14 mJ m −2 s −1. Possible mechanisms in which DNA damage is caused by magnetic field exposure are discussed.
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