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Breast Cancer and Use of Electric Power: Experimental Studies on the Melatonin Hypothesis

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The Pineal Gland and Cancer

Abstract

Two products of electric power, light at night and electromagnetic fields, can decrease production of melatonin by the pineal gland and thereby perhaps increase the risk of breast cancer. This electric power/breast cancer hypothesis, also known as the “melatonin hypothesis” has attracted a great deal of interest, in part because it is a plausible explanation for the increased tumor growth upon 50-Hz magnetic field (MF) exposure previously seen by two independent groups in chemical models of breast cancer in rats. In a large series of experiments in female Sprague-Dawley rats, we recently found that, consistent with the melatonin hypothesis, prolonged exposure to 50-Hz MFs at flux densities in the µTesla range decreases nocturnal melatonin plasma levels, increases the activity of ornithine decarboxylase in breast tissue, impairs immune surveillance, and enhances mammary tumor development and growth in response to the chemical carcinogen 7,12-dimethylbenz [α] anthracene. The results of our studies are described and discussed in this chapter, including their relevance for human risk assessment

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Authors
  1. Wolfgang Löscher
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Research in Medical and Natural Sciences, University of Tübingen, Ob dem Himmelreich 7, Tübingen, 72074, Germany

    Christian Bartsch  & Hella Bartsch  & 

  2. Laboratory of Experimental Neuroendocrinology/Oncology, Bassett Research Institute, One Atwell Road, Cooperstown, NY, 13326, USA

    David E. Blask Ph.D.,M.D. (Senior Research Scientist) (Senior Research Scientist)

  3. Department of Physiology Faculty of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires, Paraguay 2155, Buenos Aires, 121, Argentina

    Daniel P. Cardinali M.D.,Ph.D.

  4. WJB Dorn VA Medical Center, University of South Carolina, 6439 Garners Ferry Road, Columbia, SC, 29209, USA

    William J. M. Hrushesky M.D. (Director of Research (151) (Director of Research (151)

  5. Institute of Physiological Chemistry, University of Tübingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Str. 4, Tübingen, 72076, Germany

    Dieter Mecke (Director) (Director)

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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Löscher, W. (2001). Breast Cancer and Use of Electric Power: Experimental Studies on the Melatonin Hypothesis. In: Bartsch, C., Bartsch, H., Blask, D.E., Cardinali, D.P., Hrushesky, W.J.M., Mecke, D. (eds) The Pineal Gland and Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59512-7_29

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59512-7_29

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-64003-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-59512-7

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