Cellular Biology Aspects of Mobile Phone Radiation

Abstract

This chapter provides a summary of the cellular effects of radiofrequency (RF) fi elds generated by the increased use of cell phones and their base stations. In vitro studies of the effects of RF fi elds can mainly be classifi ed into studies of genotoxic and nongenotoxic effects. Genotoxic effects include DNA strand breaks, micronucleus formation, mutation, and chromosomal aberration; i.e., changes involving damage to DNA. Nongenotoxic effects refer to changes in cellular function, including cell proliferation, cellular signal transduction, and gene expression (mRNA and protein). In general, currently available reports suggest that (1) RF energy does not cleave intracellular DNA directly, since most genotoxicity studies have shown negative effects. Cells may be damaged at extremely high SARs, mainly due to the thermal effect of RF fi elds; (2) some interesting cellular responses associated with stress proteins; i.e., heat-shock protein production and phosphorylation are induced by RF fi eld. However, the results are inconsistent, perhaps due to differences in cell lines, RF exposure conditions, and exposure devices -the reproduction of results in different laboratories would be important; and (3) Microarray analysis has not provided defi nite evidence of an effect of RF exposure on cellular functions, including apoptosis, the immune system, and ROS production. Thus the current published evidence does not allow a defi nite conclusion regarding the effects at a cellular level. Studies on RF effects are ongoing worldwide. The rapid development of biotechnology has increased the potential for detection of microresponses in cells and genes, and future studies of RF effects should be performed using improved biotechnological methods.

Effects of Ultrahigh-Frequency Electromagnetic Field at 28 GHz on Micronucleus Formation in Human Cell Lines

“…Because the relationship between exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) and human health is very important, research on the safety to the human body is urgently required. In this study, we used human cell lines and assessed the frequency of micronucleus (MN) formation, which is a widely recognized method for analyzing DNA breaks [12][13][14]. To investigate the nonthermal effects of UHF radiation, we developed a device to expose human cell lines to UHF of 28 GHz EMF and assessed the frequency of MN formation.…”