Effects of a Single Head Exposure to GSM-1800 MHz Signals on the Transcriptome Profile in the Rat Cerebral Cortex: Enhanced Gene Responses Under Proinflammatory Conditions

Abstract

Mobile communications are propagated by electromagnetic fields (EMFs), and since the 1990s, they operate with pulsemodulated signals such as the GSM-1800 MHz. The biological effects of GSM-EMF in humans affected by neuropathological processes remain seldom investigated. In this study, a 2-h head-only exposure to GSM-1800 MHz was applied to (i) rats undergoing an acute neuroinflammation triggered by a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment, (ii) age-matched healthy rats, or (iii) transgenic hSOD1 G93A rats that modeled a presymptomatic phase of human amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Gene responses were assessed 24 h after the GSM head-only exposure in a motor area of the cerebral cortex (mCx) where the mean specific absorption rate (SAR) was estimated to be 3.22 W/kg. In LPS-treated rats, a genome-wide mRNA profiling was performed by RNA-seq analysis and revealed significant (adjusted p value < 0.05) but moderate (fold changes < 2) upregulations or downregulations affecting 2.7% of the expressed genes, including genes expressed predominantly in neuronal or in glial cell types and groups of genes involved in protein ubiquitination or dephosphorylation. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analyses confirmed gene modulations uncovered by RNA-seq data and showed that in a set of 15 PCR-assessed genes, significant gene responses to GSM-1800 MHz depended upon the acute neuroinflammatory state triggered in LPS-treated rats, because they were not observed in healthy or in hSOD1 G93A rats. Together, our data specify the extent of cortical gene modulations triggered by GSM-EMF in the course of an acute neuroinflammation and indicate that GSM-induced gene responses can differ according to pathologies affecting the CNS.

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Exposure to 1800 MHz LTE electromagnetic fields under proinflammatory conditions decreases the response strength and increases the acoustic threshold of auditory cortical neurons

“…Investigating the effects of a single head exposure to GSM-1800 MHz EMF in LPS-treated rats, we found that GSM signals trigger cell responses in the cerebral cortex affecting expression of genes, phosphorylation of glutamate receptors, neuronal evoked discharges and microglial cell morphology in the cerebral cortex. These effects were not detected in healthy rats submitted to a same GSM exposure indicating that the LPS-triggered neuroinflammatory state sensitize CNS cell responses to GSM signals (Lameth et al 2020;Lameth et al 2017;Occelli et al 2018;Watilliaux et al 2011). The capacity of RF exposure to impact on biological processes strongly depend on the specific absorption rate (SAR) expressed in W/kg, that measures the energy absorbed in the biological tissues.…”