Effects of 940 MHz EMF on bioluminescence and oxidative response of stable luciferase producing HEK cells.
Sefidbakht Y, Moosavi-Movahedi AA, Hosseinkhani S, Khodagholi F, Torkzadeh-Mahani M, Foolad F, Faraji-Dana R. · 2014
View Original AbstractCells show protective responses to longer RF exposure but suffer oxidative stress during shorter exposures typical of daily phone use.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed human kidney cells to 940 MHz radiation (cell phone frequency) for up to 60 minutes. Initial exposure caused cellular damage, but cells activated protective mechanisms after one hour, reducing stress markers. This suggests cells may adapt to radiation exposure over time.
Why This Matters
This study reveals something crucial about how our cells respond to cell phone radiation: the timing matters enormously. The researchers found that 30-45 minutes of exposure triggered significant oxidative stress, but longer exposure allowed cells to mount protective responses. What this means for you is that brief, repeated exposures throughout the day might be more problematic than single longer exposures, since cells don't get the chance to fully activate their protective mechanisms. The SAR level used (0.09 W/kg) is well below current safety limits, yet still produced measurable biological effects. This adds to the growing body of evidence that current safety standards, based solely on heating effects, may not adequately protect against the biological responses our cells are clearly having to RF radiation.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 0.09 W/kg
- Source/Device
- 940 MHz
- Exposure Duration
- 15, 30, 45, 60 and 90 min
Where This Falls on the Concern Scale
Study Details
The effects of mobile phone frequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF, 940 MHz) on a stable cell line (HEK293T) harbouring the firefly luciferase gene were evaluated
A waveguide exposure system with 1 W input power provided the mean specific absorption rate of ≈0.09...
Endogenous luciferase activity was reduced after 30 and 45 min of continuous exposure, while after 6...
Therefore, it appears that an increase in the activity of luciferase after 60 min of continuous exposure could be associated with a decrease in ROS level caused by activation of the oxidative response. This ability in cells to overcome oxidative stress and compensate the luciferase activity could also be responsible for the adaptive response mechanism detected in ionizing radiation studies with RF-EMF pre-treatments.
Show BibTeX
@article{y_2014_effects_of_940_mhz_567,
author = {Sefidbakht Y and Moosavi-Movahedi AA and Hosseinkhani S and Khodagholi F and Torkzadeh-Mahani M and Foolad F and Faraji-Dana R.},
title = {Effects of 940 MHz EMF on bioluminescence and oxidative response of stable luciferase producing HEK cells.},
year = {2014},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24886806/},
}