Exposure of Cultured Astroglial and Microglial Brain Cells to 900 MHz Microwave Radiation

Abstract

The rapid rise in the use of mobile communications has raised concerns about health issues related to low-level microwave radiation. The head and brain are usually the most exposed targets in mobile phone users. In the brain, two types of glial cells, the astroglial and the microglial cells, are interesting in the context of biological effects from microwave exposure. These cells are widely distributed in the brain and are directly involved in the response to brain damage as well as in the development of brain cancer. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether 900 MHz radiation could affect these two different glial cell types in culture by studying markers for damage-related processes in the cells. Primary cultures enriched in astroglial cells were exposed to 900 MHz microwave radiation in a temperature-controlled exposure system at specific absorption rates (SARs) of 3 W/kg GSM modulated wave (mw) for 4, 8 and 24 h or 27 W/kg continuous wave (cw) for 24 h, and the release into the extracellular medium of the two pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin 6 (Il6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (Tnfa) was analyzed. In addition, levels of the astroglial cell-specific reactive marker glial fibrillary acidic protein (Gfap), whose expression dynamics is different from that of cytokines, were measured in astroglial cultures and in astroglial cell-conditioned cell culture medium at SARs of 27 and 54 W/kg (cw) for 4 or 24 h. No significant differences could be detected for any of the parameters studied at any time and for any of the radiation characteristics. Total protein levels remained constant during the experiments. Microglial cell cultures were exposed to 900 MHz radiation at an SAR of 3 W/kg (mw) for 8 h, and I16, Tnfa, total protein and the microglial reactivity marker ED-1 (a macrophage activation antigen) were measured. No significant differences were found. The morphology of the cultured astroglial cells and microglia was studied and appeared to be unaffected by microwave irradiation. Thus this study does not provide evidence for any effect of the microwave radiation used on damage-related factors in glial cells in culture.

Effects of 900MHz radiofrequency on corticosterone, emotional memory and neuroinflammation in middle-aged rats

“…Our study was one of the first to assess these biomarkers, as only one study has been published and showed the absence of EMF-effects on IL secretion in primary astroglial and microglial cultured cells (Thorlin et al, 2006). Regarding the astroglial response to GSM, the literature is characterized by a high variability, as shown by negative (Fritze et al, 1997;Grafstrom et al, 2008) and positive effects (Ammari et al, 2010;Brillaud et al, 2007;Mausset-Bonnefont et al, 2004).…”

“…A transitory astroglial reactivity was observed 48 h to 72 h following an acute local exposure to GSM signal at high specific absorption rate (SAR) of 6 Watts/kg (W/kg) (Brillaud et al, 2007;Mausset-Bonnefont et al, 2004).This response was shown in several structures of the limbic system, a circuitry involved in both memory and emotional processes (Fanselow and Dong, 2010). GSM effects on IL expression have only been assessed in one in vitro study (Thorlin et al, 2006), while no in vivo animal studies have been published yet. GSM exposure was shown to affect plasmatic CORT levels (Mostafa et al, 2002) and to impair learning and memory (Fragopoulou et al, 2010;Narayanan et al, 2009).…”

Effect of electromagnetic radiations on brooding, honey production and foraging behavior of European honeybees (Apis mellifera L.)

“…Average EMR frequency on Apis mellifera colonies during the observation period. recent studies have also demonstrated that various tissues, cellular activities, memory, and learning in humans, rats, and mice are not affected when subjected to GSM or GSM-like microwave radiation (Cobb et al, 2004;Dasdag et al, 2003Dasdag et al, , 2004Dasdag et al, , 2008Dubreuil et al, 2002Dubreuil et al, , 2003Forgacs et al, 2006;Joubert et al, 2007;Kumlin et al, 2007;Sienkiewicz et al, 2000;Smith et al, 2007;Thorlin et al, 2006;Tillmann et al, 2007). Nevertheless, these findings should not downplay the potential health hazards involved with the use of cellular phones.…”

The Main Approaches of Studying the Mechanisms of Action of Artificial Electromagnetic Fields on Cell

“…The experiments in which the EMF-treated cells not revealed the specific changes in transcription or proteome changes are described in [88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96]. The differences in results in genomic and proteomic experiments with EMF-treated cells may be connected with methodological problems [97].…”