Incidence of micronuclei in human peripheral blood lymphocytes exposed to modulated and unmodulated 2450 MHz radiofrequency fields

Effect of Radiofrequency Radiation on Human Hematopoietic Stem Cells

Exposure to electromagnetic fields in the radiofrequency range is ubiquitous, mainly due to the worldwide use of mobile communication devices. With improving technologies and affordability, the number of cell phone subscriptions continues to increase. Therefore, the potential effect on biological systems at low-intensity radiation levels is of great interest. While a number of studies have been performed to investigate this issue, there has been no consensus reached based on the results. The goal of this study was to elucidate the extent to which cells of the hematopoietic system, particularly human hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), were affected by mobile phone radiation. We irradiated HSC and HL-60 cells at frequencies used in the major technologies, GSM (900 MHz), UMTS (1,950 MHz) and LTE (2,535 MHz) for a short period (4 h) and a long period (20 h/66 h), and with five different intensities ranging from 0 to 4 W/kg specific absorption rate (SAR). Studied end points included apoptosis, oxidative stress, cell cycle, DNA damage and DNA repair. In all but one of these end points, we detected no clear effect of mobile phone radiation; the only alteration was found when quantifying DNA damage. Exposure of HSC to the GSM modulation for 4 h caused a small but statistically significant decrease in DNA damage compared to sham exposure. To our knowledge, this is the first published study in which putative effects (e.g., genotoxicity or influence on apoptosis rate) of radiofrequency radiation were investigated in HSC. Radiofrequency electromagnetic fields did not affect cells of the hematopoietic system, in particular HSC, under the given experimental conditions.

Lessons and Perspectives from a 25-Year Bioelectromagnetics Research Program

The question of whether electromagnetic fields from electric power or telecommunications systems can be linked unequivocally to health detriments has occupied scientific research endeavors for nearly half a century. For 25 years, the bioelectromagnetic research group at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia, has pursued a series of investigations with relevant endpoints, such as neurophysiological and neuropsychological effects, cell calcium level changes, proliferation, and genotoxic effects. Most have shown no significant changes due to fields, however, in some pilot studies significant changes were revealed, but in most cases these were not replicated in follow-up studies. This highlights a feature of this research area, generally; the unambiguous identification of small changes in noisy data where the understanding of possible interaction mechanisms is lacking. On the other hand, mathematical modelling studies, particularly with respect to fields near metallic implants, in workers exposed to fields in harsh environmental conditions and at very high frequencies (THz), continue to add to the expanding knowledge database on the characteristics of the complex electromagnetic environment we live in today.

Quality Matters: Systematic Analysis of Endpoints Related to "Cellular Life" in Vitro Data of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Field Exposure

Possible hazardous effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) at low exposure levels are controversially discussed due to inconsistent study findings. Therefore, the main focus of the present study is to detect if any statistical association exists between RF-EMF and cellular responses, considering cell proliferation and apoptosis endpoints separately and with both combined as a group of “cellular life” to increase the statistical power of the analysis. We searched for publications regarding RF-EMF in vitro studies in the PubMed database for the period 1995–2014 and extracted the data to the relevant parameters, such as cell culture type, frequency, exposure duration, SAR, and five exposure-related quality criteria. These parameters were used for an association study with the experimental outcome in terms of the defined endpoints. We identified 104 published articles, from which 483 different experiments were extracted and analyzed. Cellular responses after exposure to RF-EMF were significantly associated to cell lines rather than to primary cells. No other experimental parameter was significantly associated with cellular responses. A highly significant negative association with exposure condition-quality and cellular responses was detected, showing that the more the quality criteria requirements were satisfied, the smaller the number of detected cellular responses. According to our knowledge, this is the first systematic analysis of specific RF-EMF bio-effects in association to exposure quality, highlighting the need for more stringent quality procedures for the exposure conditions.