Mobile-phone radiation-induced perturbation of gene-expression profiling, redox equilibrium and sporadic-apoptosis control in the ovary ofDrosophila melanogaster

Abstract

The daily use by people of wireless communication devices has increased exponentially in the last decade, begetting concerns regarding its potential health hazards. Drosophila melanogaster four days-old adult female flies were exposed for 30 min to radiation emitted by a commercial mobile phone at a SAR of 0.15 W/kg and a SAE of 270 J/kg. ROS levels and apoptotic follicles were assayed in parallel with a genome-wide microarrays analysis. ROS cellular contents were found to increase by 1.6-fold (x), immediately after the end of exposure, in follicles of pre-choriogenic stages (germarium - stage 10), while sporadically generated apoptotic follicles (germarium 2b and stages 7-9) presented with an averaged 2x upregulation in their sub-population mass, 4 h after fly's irradiation with mobile device. Microarray analysis revealed 168 genes being differentially expressed, 2 h post-exposure, in response to radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic field-radiation exposure (≥1.25x, P < 0.05) and associated with multiple and critical biological processes, such as basic metabolism and cellular subroutines related to stress response and apoptotic death. Exposure of adult flies to mobile-phone radiation for 30 min has an immediate impact on ROS production in animal's ovary, which seems to cause a global, systemic and non-targeted transcriptional reprogramming of gene expression, 2 h post-exposure, being finally followed by induction of apoptosis 4 h after the end of exposure. Conclusively, this unique type of pulsed radiation, mainly being derived from daily used mobile phones, seems capable of mobilizing critical cytopathic mechanisms, and altering fundamental genetic programs and networks in D. melanogaster.

Hippocampal lipidome and transcriptome profile alterations triggered by acute exposure of mice to GSM 1800 MHz mobile phone radiation: An exploratory study

“…was altered 6–8 hr after whole‐body exposure, thus supporting the notion of a multifaceted impact of this kind of radiation on the murine brain. This notion is additionally supported by the fact that MP radiation had also a multitargeted effect onto subcellular organelles, as has also been previously shown by our group in Drosophila (Manta et al., ).…”

“…Specifically, the inhibition of TP73 and the activation of NUPR1 suggest that MP radiation may act as a stress and apoptotic factor. Stress and cell death induction has also been previously reported by our group in drosophila (Manta et al., ) and by other groups in the rat brain (Narayanan et al., ) and in human glioblastoma and other cancer cells (Chowdhury, Samant, Fodstad, & Shevde, ; Ratovitski, ). The inhibition of RICTOR, which is part of the mTOR pathway, reveals the MP radiation impact on cell growth and survival and on oxidative phosphorylation and other mitochondrial functions (Li, Long, He, Belshaw, & Scott, ).…”

Role of Mitochondria in the Oxidative Stress Induced by Electromagnetic Fields: Focus on Reproductive Systems

“…This is in accordance with studies in nonmammalian models. An interesting contribution to the knowledge on oxidative stress impact on ovarian physiology came from a study on Drosophila melanogaster [ 186 ]. Genome-wide microarray analysis performed on early- and middle-stage follicles under RF exposure revealed the activation of more than 150 genes and the downregulation of only 15 genes involved in various cellular functions.…”

“…Genome-wide microarray analysis performed on early- and middle-stage follicles under RF exposure revealed the activation of more than 150 genes and the downregulation of only 15 genes involved in various cellular functions. Since a twofold increase in ovarian ROS content and activation of follicle cell death were observed, authors suggested that genome-wide and nontargeted transcriptional perturbation of gene-expression profiling, probably induced by RF-dependent ROS increase, could compel sensitive ovarian-cell subpopulations and lead to sporadic follicle apoptotis [ 186 ]. Similarly, exposure of quail embryos to 900 MHz determined overproduction of superoxide and nitrogen oxide, in association with increased level of lipid peroxidation and depression of key antioxidant enzymes activity, resulting in increased level of oxidative damage of DNA in the embryo [ 187 ].…”

Effects of Radiofrequency Radiation on Gene Expression: A Study of Gene Expressions of Human Keratinocytes From Different Origins

“…This poor reproducibility may be due to the use of various biological material and exposure systems, varying exposure durations, and, most of the time, varying frequencies. For instance, focusing on the impact of the electromagnetic field on gene expression, we found that the eight most recent publications used microarrays based on five different models (mouse, rat, human, Drosophila, and chicken models); eight different frequencies, from intermediary frequencies to radiofrequencies; and three data processing methods (no statistical tests, simple tests, and false discovery rate [FDR] statistical test) [Yeh et al, 2015;Andocs et al, 2016;Kim et al, 2016;Manta et al, 2017;Woelders et al, 2017;Fragopoulou et al, 2018;Lamkowski et al, 2018;Habauzit et al, 2020]. Together, the differences in these parameters make it difficult not only to compare individual experiments but also to replicate them.…”