Label-Free Study of the Global Cell Behavior during Exposure to Environmental Radiofrequency Fields in the Presence or Absence of Pro-Apoptotic or Pro-Autophagic Treatments

Abstract

It remains controversial whether exposure to environmental radiofrequency signals (RF) impacts cell status or response to cellular stress such as apoptosis or autophagy. We used two label-free techniques, cellular impedancemetry and Digital Holographic Microscopy (DHM), to assess the overall cellular response during RF exposure alone, or during co-exposure to RF and chemical treatments known to induce either apoptosis or autophagy. Two human cell lines (SH-SY5Y and HCT116) and two cultures of primary rat cortex cells (astrocytes and co-culture of neurons and glial cells) were exposed to RF using an 1800 MHz carrier wave modulated with various environmental signals (GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications, 2G signal), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, 3G signal), LTE (Long-Term Evolution, 4G signal, and Wi-Fi) or unmodulated RF (continuous wave, CW). The specific absorption rates (S.A.R.) used were 1.5 and 6 W/kg during DHM experiments and ranged from 5 to 24 W/kg during the recording of cellular impedance. Cells were continuously exposed for three to five consecutive days while the temporal phenotypic signature of cells behavior was recorded at constant temperature. Statistical analysis of the results does not indicate that RF-EMF exposure impacted the global behavior of healthy, apoptotic, or autophagic cells, even at S.A.R. levels higher than the guidelines, provided that the temperature was kept constant.

Effects of 5G-modulated 3.5 GHz radiofrequency field exposures on HSF1, RAS, ERK, and PML activation in live fibroblasts and keratinocytes cells

“…Given that we used more than 100 different experimental parameters and that all but one of the detected effects were within a risk of 5% error, it was statistically expected to have some false positive data. We reached a similar conclusion when we studied the effect of various 1.8 GHz signals on primary brain cell cultures and neuroblastoma cell lines using label-free techniques 56 . Therefore, apart from the effect of RF-EMF on HSF1 basal activity that may deserve further investigations, we found no sufficient evidence toward physiological effect of the tested RF-EMF alone or in combination with chemicals.…”

A Novel and Versatile Microfluidic Device for Cell Assays under Radio Frequency Exposure

“…In recent years, various exposure systems have been designed, such as reverberation chambers [ 13 , 14 ], the pair of coils and the waveguide [ 15 , 16 ], to evaluate exposure-associated cellular response through Specific Absorption Rate (SAR). Not taking into account the relation between EMF and cell migration, SAR usually provides a widely accepted description of RF-EMF-induced responses [ 17 ]. Indeed, wound healing involves morphological responses, including the actin cytoskeleton shifting from one state to another, behaving in newly formed protrusion patterns, changes in cellular shapes and the beginning of movement such as elongation, alignment, or even migration [ 18 ], which are closely related to the uniformity and orientation of field at the given location when cells are cultured in chamber-like conventional flasks [ 19 ], culture plate wells, or Petri dishes [ 20 , 21 ].…”