Calreticulin Protects Rat Microvascular Endothelial Cells against Microwave Radiation-induced Injury by Attenuating Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress.
Li WH, Li YZ, Song DD, Wang XR, Liu M, Wu XD, Liu XH. · 2014
View Original AbstractMicrowave radiation at WiFi-like frequencies damages blood vessel cells through cellular stress pathways, but protective proteins can reduce this harm.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed rat blood vessel cells to microwave radiation at 2.856 GHz for six minutes and found it caused significant cell damage and death through a process called endoplasmic reticulum stress. However, when cells were pretreated with a protective protein called calreticulin, the radiation damage was substantially reduced. This suggests that microwave radiation can harm the tiny blood vessels throughout our body, but also points to potential protective mechanisms.
Why This Matters
This study provides important evidence that microwave radiation at frequencies used in modern wireless devices can damage the microvascular system - the network of tiny blood vessels that deliver oxygen and nutrients throughout your body. The 2.856 GHz frequency tested is close to the 2.4 GHz band used by WiFi, Bluetooth, and microwave ovens. What makes this research particularly significant is that it identifies a specific biological pathway (endoplasmic reticulum stress) through which EMF exposure causes cellular damage, moving beyond simple correlation to demonstrate biological mechanism. The fact that a protective protein could reduce this damage suggests our cells have evolved some defenses against electromagnetic stress, but these may be overwhelmed by chronic exposure levels we face today.
Exposure Details
- Power Density
- 30 µW/m²
- Source/Device
- 2.856 GHz
- Exposure Duration
- six minutes
Exposure Context
This study used 30 µW/m² for radio frequency:
- 3,000Mx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.1 μW/m²
- 50Mx 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
This study was designed to evaluate whether exogenous CRT was beneficial for alleviating MR-induced injury by suppressing ER stress in rat MMECs.
MMECs were pretreated with CRT (25 pg/mL) for 12 hours, followed by the exposure to 2.856 GHz radiat...
MR induced marked MMECs injury, as shown by increased LDH leakage and apoptosis rate and decreased c...
Exogenous CRT attenuates MR-induced ER stress-related apoptosis by suppressing CHOP-mediated apoptotic signaling pathways in MMECs.
Show BibTeX
@article{wh_2014_calreticulin_protects_rat_microvascular_1151,
author = {Li WH and Li YZ and Song DD and Wang XR and Liu M and Wu XD and Liu XH.},
title = {Calreticulin Protects Rat Microvascular Endothelial Cells against Microwave Radiation-induced Injury by Attenuating Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress.},
year = {2014},
doi = {10.1111/micc.12126},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/micc.12126},
}