Effects of 5G mobile phone radiofrequency radiation exposure on male mouse fertility / 中国辐射卫生

Objective To clarify the effects of 5G mobile phone radiofrequency radiation exposure on male mouse fertility and to preliminarily explore the underlying mechanisms. Methods Healthy male C57BL/6 mice aged 7-8 weeks were randomly assigned to Sham group, 3.5 GHz radiofrequency radiation group, and 4.9 GHz radiofrequency radiation group, with 16 mice in each group. The mice were exposed to 3.5 GHz or 4.9 GHz mobile phone radiofrequency radiation for 42 consecutive days (1 h per day). The sperm quality was evaluated using sperm count, deformity rate, and motility. H&E staining was performed to assess testicular tissue structure by observing the morphology of spermatogenic cells at various development stages, the diameter of seminiferous tubules, and the thickness of seminiferous epithelium. The sperm mitochondrial function was assessed using sperm mitochondrial membrane potential and testicular ATP content. The fertility of mice was evaluated through fertility rate, litter size, and survival rate of offspring. The underlying mechanisms were explored by detecting the methylation of LRGUK gene and its mRNA and protein levels. Results Compared with the Sham group, there were no significant changes in sperm count in the 3.5 GHz and 4.9 GHz groups; however, the sperm abnormality rate significantly increased (P < 0.05) and sperm motility significantly decreased (P < 0.05). The structure of testicular tissue, the function of sperm mitochondria, and fertility of mice showed no significant changes as compared with the Sham group. The methylation level of LRGUK gene in the testes significantly increased, while the mRNA and protein expression levels significantly decreased. Conclusion Exposure to 3.5 GHz and 4.9 GHz mobile phone radiofrequency radiation for 42 consecutive days can lead to an increase in sperm deformity rate and a decrease in sperm motility in mice, but has no significant effect on fertility, which may be related to an increase in methylation level of the LRGUK gene in the testes.

The Chromosomal DNA Damage in Buccal Mucosa Cells among Schools Children in The Vicinity Of Mobile Base Stations in Selangor

Abstract@#Introduction: The increased use of mobile phones has increased the mobile base stations (MBS) deployment. While understanding of radiation protection is growing among the public, questions regarding early-life exposure to radiofrequency radiation (RFR) from MBS in children are of importance as to whether it will raise the chances of developing chronic diseases during adulthood. Taking into account the sitting location of MBS, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the chromosomal DNA damage in buccal mucosal cells between school children exposed to RFR emitted from base station antennas. Method: This is a comparative cross-sectional study in which two group of school children were sampled i.e. exposed groups are children whose school located near MBS (≤200 meters); unexposed groups are children whose school located distant far from the MBS (>200 meters). Digital RF Analyzer was used to measure RFR at the school surrounding. Buccal mucosa cells from the oral cavity were sampled to examine the level of micronuclei (MN) frequencies. Results: This study found that the densities of the RFR energy differed in range. Although all measurements showed the RFR reading below the acceptable exposure level, there were still significant variations at each location assessed. Statistically, the MN frequency is significantly different when compared to the exposed and non-exposed group. Conclusion: To understand the mechanism of health effects from exposure to low-level RFR emited from MBS, further study should consider environmental factors influencing MBS sitting on RFR emission, as well as examining the health effects into molecular levels.

Effect of radiofrequency radiation on reproductive health

The development of cellular phone system has greatly increased the extent and magnitude of radiofrequency radiation (RFR) exposure. The RFR emitted from mobile phone and mobile phone base stations exerts thermal and non-thermal effects. The short-term and long-term exposure to RFR may have adverse effect on humans as well as animals. Most laboratory studies have indicated a direct link between exposure to RFR and adverse biological effects. Several in vitro studies have reported that RFR induces various types of cancer and DNA or chromosomal damage. On the other hand, some animal studies have not reported adverse effects of this radiation. The present review summarizes information available on the possible effects of RFR on the reproductive health.

Alterations in Spontaneous Movement, Corticosterone, and Cytokines in Mice Exposed to 835 MHz Radiofrequency Radiation / 체질인류학회지

Although commercialization of mobile phones has raised much concerns about the effects of radiofrequency radiation on the human body, few experimental studies have been conducted on the effects of radiofrequency radiation on physiological homeostasis, immune and inflammatory responses. Therefore, we presently investigated the effect of 835 MHz radiofrequency radiation on spontaneous wheel exercise, hormone and cytokines levels in the plasm of mice. Mice were divided into 4 groups as control, exercise, radiofrequency radiation, radiofrequency radiation & exercise group. The body weight, corticosterone and blood cytokine levels were checked for 10 weeks. Followed by the exposure to radiofrequency radiation for 6 hours a day, the more increase in body weight was observed in the radiofrequency radiation & exercise group than in the spontaneous exercise group. When the amount of spontaneous exercise was measured for 10 weeks, the amount of exercise was increased in the both control and spontaneous exercise group, while the amount of exercise was decreased in the radiofrequency radiation group. To determine whether the homeostasis, immune and inflammatory responses are indirectly affected by radiofrequency radiation exposure, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-12 (p70), TNF-α, IFNγ, and GM-CSF were measured by ELISA kit, respectively. As a result, the blood levels of IL-6, IL-12 (p70) and TNF-α in the spontaneous exercise group were higher than that of control group, and each cytokine levels in the radiofrequency radiation & exercise group were lower than that of control group. However, the corticosterone, IL-1β, IFNγ and GM-CSF didn't show statistically significant differences in all groups. It has been confirmed that exposure to high frequency electromagnetic waves for a long time can affect the amount of exercise, body weight, and some inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6, IL-12 (p70) and TNF-α.

Classification of Biological Effect of 1,763 MHz Radiofrequency Radiation Based on Gene Expression Profiles

Radiofrequency (RF) radiation might induce the transcription of a certain set of genes as other physical stresses like ionizing radiation and UV. To observe transcriptional changes upon RF radiation, we exposed WI-38, human lung fibroblast cell to 1763 MHz of mobile phone RF radiation at 60 W/kg of specific absorption rate (SAR) for 24h with or without heat control. There were no significant changes in cell numbers and morphology after exposure to RF radiation. Using quantitative RT-PCR, we checked the expression of three heat shock protein (HSP) (HSPA1A, HSPA6 and HSP105) and seven stress-related genes (TNFRSF11B, FGF2, TGFB2, ITGA2, BRIP1, EXO1, and MCM10) in RF only and RF/HS groups of RF-exposed cells. The expressions of three heat shock proteins and seven stress-related genes were selectively changed only in RF/HS groups. Based on the expression of ten genes, we could classify thermal and non-thermal effect of RF-exposure, which genes can be used as biomarkers for RF radiation exposure.

Genome-wide Response of Normal WI-38 Human Fibroblast Cells to 1,763 MHz Radiofrequency Radiation

Increased exposure of human to RF fields has raised concerns for its potential adverse effects on our health. To address the biological effects of RF radiation, we used genome wide gene expression as the indicator. We exposed normal WI-38 human fibroblast cells to 1763 MHz mobile phone RF radiation at a specific absorption rate (SAR) of 60 W/kg with an operating cooling system for 24 h. There were no alterations in cell numbers or morphology after RF exposure. Through microarray analysis, we identified no differentially expressed genes (DEGs) at the 0.05 significance level after controlling for multiple testing errors with the Benjaminiochberg false discovery rate (BH FDR) method. Meanwhile, 82 genes were differentially expressed between RF-exposed cells and controls when the significance level was set at 0.01 without correction for multiple comparisons. We found that 24 genes (0.08% of the total genes examined) were changed by more than 1.5-fold on RF exposure. However, significant enrichment of any gene set or pathway was not observed from the functional annotation analysis. From these results, we did not find any evidence that non-thermal RF radiation at a 60-W/kg SAR significantly affects cell proliferation or gene expression in WI-38 cells.

Prediction of the Exposure to 1763MHz Radiofrequency Radiation Based on Gene Expression Patterns

Radiofrequency (RF) radiation at the frequency of mobile phones has been not reported to induce cellular responses in in vitro and in vivo models. We exposed HEI-OC1, conditionally-immortalized mouse auditory cells, to RF radiation to characterize cellular responses to 1763 MHz RF radiation. While we could not detect any differences upon RF exposure, whole-genome expression profiling might provide the most sensitive method to find the molecular responses to RF radiation. HEI-OC1 cells were exposed to 1763 MHz RF radiation at an average specific absorption rate (SAR) of 20 W/kg for 24 hr and harvested after 5 hr of recovery (R5), alongside sham-exposed samples (S5). From the whole-genome profiles of mouse neurons, we selected 9 differentially-expressed genes between the S5 and R5 groups using information gain-based recursive feature elimination procedure. Based on support vector machine (SVM), we designed a prediction model using the 9 genes to discriminate the two groups. Our prediction model could predict the target class without any error. From these results, we developed a prediction model using biomarkers to determine the RF radiation exposure in mouse auditory cells with perfect accuracy, which may need validation in in vivo RF-exposure models.

Prediction of Exposure to 1763MHz Radiofrequency Radiation Using Support Vector Machine Algorithm in Jurkat Cell Model System

We have investigated biological responses to radiofrequency (RF) radiation in in vitro and in vivo models. By measuring the levels of heat shock proteins as well as the activation of mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs), we could not detect any differences upon RF exposure. In this study, we used more sensitive method to find the molecular responses to RF radiation. Jurkat, human T-Iymphocyte cells were exposed to 1763 MHz RF radiation at an average specific absorption rate (SAR) of 10 W/kg for one hour and harvested immediately (R0) or after five hours (R5). From the profiles of 30,000 genes, we selected 68 differentially expressed genes among sham (S), R0 and R5 groups using a random-variance F-test. Especially 45 annotated genes were related to metabolism, apoptosis or transcription regulation. Based on support vector machine (SVM) algorithm, we designed prediction model using 68 genes to discriminate three groups. Our prediction model could predict the target class of 19 among 20 examples exactly (95% accuracy). From these data, we could select the 68 biomarkers to predict the RF radiation exposure with high accuracy, which might need to be validated in in vivo models.