Individual responsiveness to induction of micronuclei in human lymphocytes after exposure in vitro to 1800-MHz microwave radiation.
Zotti-Martelli L, Peccatori M, Maggini V, Ballardin M, Barale R. · 2005
View Original AbstractExposure to 1800-MHz microwave radiation increased micronuclei in human lymphocytes, with wide variability in response among individual donors.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed whole blood samples from nine healthy donors to continuous 1800-MHz microwave radiation at power densities of 5, 10 and 20 mW/cm2 for 60, 120 and 180 minutes, measuring genotoxic effects using the micronucleus assay. A statistically significant but rather low increase in micronuclei was observed depending on exposure time and applied power density. Both spontaneous and induced micronuclei frequencies varied significantly among donors, and the experiment was repeated three months later to test reproducibility.
Why This Matters
The study investigated not only whether microwaves could cause genotoxic effects, but also whether individual donors differed in their sensitivity to such effects. Lymphocyte proliferation indices differed significantly among donors and between experiments, but the applied power density and exposure time did not affect them. A considerable decrease in spontaneous and induced micronuclei frequencies was measured when the experiment was repeated. The researchers concluded that microwaves are able to induce micronuclei in short-time exposures to medium power density fields. The wide inter-individual variability in response was confirmed to be a reproducible trait in the second experiment.
Exposure Details
- Power Density
- 5, 10 & 20 mW/cm²
- Source/Device
- 1800 MHz continuous microwave
- Exposure Duration
- 60, 120 and 180 min
Exposure Context
This study used 5, 10 & 20 mW/cm² for radio frequency:
- 500Mx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.1 μW/m²
- 8.3Mx above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 0.0006 μW/cm²
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
The aim of this study is to assess the capability of microwaves, at different power densities and exposure times, to induce genotoxic effects as evaluated by the in vitro micronucleus (MN) assay on peripheral blood lymphocytes from nine different healthy donors, and to investigate also the possible inter-individual response variability.
Whole blood samples were exposed for 60, 120 and 180 min to continuous microwave radiation with a fr...
Reproducibility was tested by repeating the experiment 3 months later. Multivariate analysis showed ...
The results show that microwaves are able to induce MN in short-time exposures to medium power density fields. Our data analysis highlights a wide inter-individual variability in the response, which was confirmed to be a characteristic reproducible trait by means of the second experiment.
Show BibTeX
@article{l_2005_individual_responsiveness_to_induction_37,
author = {Zotti-Martelli L and Peccatori M and Maggini V and Ballardin M and Barale R.},
title = {Individual responsiveness to induction of micronuclei in human lymphocytes after exposure in vitro to 1800-MHz microwave radiation.},
year = {2005},
url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S138357180500032X},
}