Background: Bee venom, like many other complementary medicine approaches, has been used for thousands of years attempting to alleviate some diseases. In addition, the effect of electromagnetic field on the cell growth in different aspects has been confirmed. In this study, the effect of coadministration of 200 gauss and 50 Hz electromagnetic field (EMF) and bee venom on angiogenesis in chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) was evaluated.

Materials and Methods: Sixty ROSS fertilized eggs were randomly divided into 6 groups: the control, sham 1 (treated with PBS) sham 2 (treated with electromagnetic field off) experimental groups 1 (treated with EMF) 2 (treated with bee venom) and 3 (treated with bee venom and EMF). At day 8, a gelatin sponge was placed on CAM and was soaked with 10 μl bee venom in the experimental groups 2 and 3. The experimental groups 1 and 3 were placed in 200 gauss EMF for 4 hours on day 10. At day 12, CAM was examined and photographed by photo-stereomicroscope.

Results: No significant difference was seen in the mean number and length of vessels between the controls and sham1 and 2 groups. There was a significant decrease in the mean number and length of vessels in the EMF and bee venom treated groups compared to the control groups (P<0.05). Moreover, a significant decrease was observed in the mean number and length of blood vessels in twin samples exposed to bee venom and EMF compared to the samples were only exposed to bee venom (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Results reveal that the 200 gauss EMF has an inhibitory effect on angiogenesis in chorioallantoic membrane and can enhance the anti-angiogenesis effect of bee venom.