Effect of mobile phone exposure on apoptotic glial cells and status of oxidative stress in rat brain
Dasdag S, Akdag MZ, Ulukaya E, Uzunlar AK, Ocak AR · 2009
View Original AbstractRat brains showed protective responses to cell phone radiation, suggesting biological stress even when cell death decreased.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed rats to 900 MHz cell phone radiation for 2 hours daily over 10 months to study brain cell death (apoptosis) and oxidative stress. Surprisingly, they found reduced cell death and increased antioxidant activity in exposed rats compared to controls. This unexpected finding suggests the brain may activate protective mechanisms in response to chronic low-level radiation exposure.
Why This Matters
This study presents an intriguing paradox in EMF research. While many studies document harmful effects from cell phone radiation, this 10-month investigation found what appears to be a protective response in rat brains. The radiation levels used (SAR 0.17-0.58 W/kg) are within typical cell phone exposure ranges, making these findings relevant to human exposure. However, we shouldn't interpret reduced cell death as necessarily beneficial. The brain's apparent activation of antioxidant defenses suggests it's responding to a perceived threat. Put simply, your brain working harder to protect itself isn't the same as being unharmed. This study highlights the complexity of biological responses to EMF and reminds us that short-term adaptive responses don't guarantee long-term safety.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 0.17 and 0.58 W/kg
- Power Density
- 0.052 and 0.338 µW/m²
- Electric Field
- 16.26 and 29.43 V/m
- Source/Device
- 900 MHz microwave
- Exposure Duration
- continuous 2 h/day, 7 days/week for 10 months
Exposure Context
This study used 0.052 and 0.338 µW/m² for radio frequency:
- 5.2Mx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.1 μW/m²
- 86.7Kx above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 0.0006 μW/cm²
This study used 16.26 and 29.43 V/m for electric fields:
- 54.2x above the Building Biology guideline of 0.3 V/m
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 was to investigate the effects of mobile phone exposure on glial cells in brain.
The study carried out on 31 Wistar Albino adult male rats. The rat heads in a carousel exposed to 90...
Final score for apoptosis in the exposed group was significantly lower than the sham (p < 0.001) and...
In conclusion, the final score for apoptosis, total antioxidant capacity and catalase in rat brain might be altered by 900 MHz radiation produced by a generator to represent exposure of global systems for mobile communication (GSM) cellular phones
Show BibTeX
@article{s_2009_effect_of_mobile_phone_86,
author = {Dasdag S and Akdag MZ and Ulukaya E and Uzunlar AK and Ocak AR},
title = {Effect of mobile phone exposure on apoptotic glial cells and status of oxidative stress in rat brain},
year = {2009},
doi = {10.3109/15368370903206556},
url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/15368370903206556},
}