Differential Pro-Inflammatory Responses of Astrocytes and Microglia Involve STAT3 Activation in Response to 1800 MHz Radiofrequency Fields.
Lu Y, He M, Zhang Y, Xu S, Zhang L, He Y, Chen C, Liu C, Pi H, Yu Z, Zhou Z. · 2014
View Original AbstractExposure to 1800 MHz radiofrequency fields triggered pro-inflammatory responses in microglia and astrocytes through differential activation of STAT3 in the two cell types.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed microglial N9 and astroglial C8-D1A cells to 1800 MHz radiofrequency fields to study pro-inflammatory responses and the mechanisms involved. Radiofrequency exposure induced different expression and release profiles of inflammatory markers including IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6, PGE2, nitric oxide, inducible nitric oxide synthase, and cyclooxygenase 2 in the two cell types. STAT3 was activated by radiofrequency exposure in microglia but not in astrocytes, and the STAT3 inhibitor Stattic reduced the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines in microglia but not in astrocytes.
Why This Matters
Both microglia and astrocytes were activated by radiofrequency exposure, as indicated by up-regulated CD11b and glial fibrillary acidic protein. Cells were exposed with or without pretreatment with a STAT3 inhibitor, allowing the researchers to assess STAT3's role in the inflammatory process. The researchers described STAT3 as a promising target to protect humans against increasing radiofrequency exposure.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 2 W/kg
- Source/Device
- 1,800 MHz
- Exposure Duration
- intermittent for 1, 3, 6, 12, or 24 hours (5 min on and 10 min off)
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
Given the important role of inflammation in neural physiopathologic processes, we investigated the pro-inflammatory responses of microglia and astrocytes and the involved mechanism in response to RF fields. Microglial N9 and astroglial C8-D1A cells were exposed to 1800 MHz RF for different time with or without pretreatment with STAT3 inhibitor.
Microglia and astrocytes were activated by RF exposure indicated by up-regulated CD11b and glial fib...
However, RF exposure induced differential pro-inflammatory responses in astrocytes and microglia, ch...
Our data provide novel insights into the potential mechanisms of the reported CNS impacts associated with mobile phone use and present STAT3 as a promising target to protect humans against increasing RF exposure.
Show BibTeX
@article{y_2014_differential_proinflammatory_responses_of_133,
author = {Lu Y and He M and Zhang Y and Xu S and Zhang L and He Y and Chen C and Liu C and Pi H and Yu Z and Zhou Z. },
title = {Differential Pro-Inflammatory Responses of Astrocytes and Microglia Involve STAT3 Activation in Response to 1800 MHz Radiofrequency Fields.},
year = {2014},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0108318},
}