Assessment of genotoxicity and genomic instability in rat primary astrocytes exposed to 872 MHz radiofrequency radiation and chemicals

Abstract

Purpose: We examined genotoxicity, co-genotoxicity and induced genomic instability (IGI) in primary astrocytes exposed to radiofrequency (RF) radiation.

Materials and methods: Rat primary astrocytes were exposed to 872 MHz GSM-modulated or continuous wave (CW) RF radiation at specific absorption rates of 0.6 or 6.0 W/kg for 24 h. Menadione (MQ) and methyl methanesulfonate (MMS; only in genotoxicity experiments) were used as co-exposures. Alkaline Comet assay and flow cytometric micronucleus scoring were used to detect genetic damage.

Results: No IGI was observed from RF radiation alone or combined treatment with MQ. RF radiation alone was not genotoxic. RF radiation combined with chemical exposure showed some statistically significant differences: increased DNA damage at 6.0 W/kg but decreased DNA damage at 0.6 W/kg in cells exposed to GSM-modulated RF radiation and MQ, and increased micronucleus frequency in cells exposed to CW RF radiation at 0.6 W/kg and MMS.

Conclusions: Exposure to GSM modulated RF radiation at levels up to 6.0 W/kg did not induce or enhance genomic instability in rat primary astrocytes. Lack of genotoxicity from RF radiation alone was convincingly shown in multiple experiments. Co-genotoxicity of RF radiation and genotoxic chemicals was not consistently supported by the results.

Keywords:

• Radiofrequency
• mobile phone radiation
• genotoxicity
• co-genotoxicity
• genomic instability

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank senior laboratory technician Ms. Hanne Vainikainen for her invaluable assistance in laboratory analyses. The authors wish to thank Dr. Lauri Puranen for his help with dosimetric considerations.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Funding

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007–2013] under grant agreement no [603794] – the GERONIMO project.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mikko Herrala

Mikko Herrala, MSc, PhD student, is Early Stage Researcher at the Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences of the University of Eastern Finland. His research interests include biological and health effects of electromagnetic fields.

Ehab Mustafa

Ehab Mustafa received M.Sc. degree in environmental health risk assessment from University of Eastern Finland (UEF) and currently works as Early Stage Researcher (PhD candidate) in the Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences (UEF). His research interests focus on experimental investigation of biological and health effects of electromagnetic fields.

Jonne Naarala

Jonne Naarala, PhD, is Associate Professor of Radiation Biology at the Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences of the University of Eastern Finland. His research interests include biological and health effects of non-ionizing and ionizing radiation using experimental approaches.

Jukka Juutilainen

Jukka Juutilainen, PhD, is Professor of Radiation Biology and Radiation Epidemiology at the Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences of the University of Eastern Finland. His research interests include biological and health effects of non-ionizing and ionizing radiation using both experimental and epidemiological approaches.