Apoptosis is Induced by Radiofrequency Fields through the Caspase-Independent Mitochondrial Pathway in Cortical Neurons
Joubert, V., Bourthoumieu, S., Leveque, P. and Yardin, C. · 2008
View Original AbstractRF radiation at cell phone levels triggered brain cell death through non-thermal pathways, challenging heating-only safety standards.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed rat brain cells to cell phone-level radiofrequency radiation (900 MHz at 2 W/kg SAR) for 24 hours and found it triggered programmed cell death through a specific pathway involving mitochondria. The cell death occurred even when accounting for the slight heating effect of the radiation. This suggests that RF radiation can damage brain cells through non-thermal mechanisms at exposure levels similar to what cell phones produce.
Why This Matters
This study provides compelling evidence that radiofrequency radiation can trigger brain cell death at SAR levels (2 W/kg) that are within the range of typical cell phone use. What makes this research particularly significant is that the researchers controlled for heating effects and found the cell death occurred through a specific molecular pathway involving the mitochondria, not just from thermal damage. The science demonstrates that RF fields can affect cellular function through non-thermal mechanisms. While this was conducted on isolated rat neurons in laboratory conditions, it adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting that our brains may be more vulnerable to RF radiation than current safety standards assume. The reality is that current regulations focus primarily on preventing tissue heating, but studies like this indicate biological effects can occur well below those thermal thresholds.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 2 W/kg
- Source/Device
- CW 900 MHz
- Exposure Duration
- 24 h
Exposure Context
This study used 2 W/kg for SAR (device absorption):
- 5x above the Building Biology guideline of 0.4 W/kg
Building Biology guidelines are practitioner-based limits from real-world assessments. BioInitiative Report recommendations are based on peer-reviewed science. Check Your Exposure to compare your own measurements.
Where This Falls on the Concern Scale
Study Details
In the present study, we investigated whether continuous-wave (CW) radiofrequency (RF) fields induce neuron apoptosis in vitro.
Rat primary neuronal cultures were exposed to a CW 900 MHz RF field with a specific absorption rate...
A statistically significant difference in the rate of apoptosis was found in the RF-field-exposed n...
Our results show that, under the experimental conditions used, exposure of primary rat neurons to CW RF fields may induce a caspase-independent pathway to apoptosis that involves AIF.
Show BibTeX
@article{joubert_2008_apoptosis_is_induced_by_111,
author = {Joubert and V. and Bourthoumieu and S. and Leveque and P. and Yardin and C. },
title = {Apoptosis is Induced by Radiofrequency Fields through the Caspase-Independent Mitochondrial Pathway in Cortical Neurons},
year = {2008},
url = {https://meridian.allenpress.com/radiation-research/article-abstract/169/1/38/42579},
}