The in vivo effects of low-intensity radiofrequency fields on the motor activity of protozoa

Abstract

Purpose: To analyze the direct and transgenerational effects of exposure to low-dose 1 GHz (mobile phone/wireless telecommunication range) and 10 GHz (radar/satellite communication range) radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) on the motility of ciliates Spirostomum ambiguum.

Materials and methods: S. ambiguum were exposed to 1 GHz and 10 GHz RF-EMF with power flux densities (PD) ranging from 0.05–0.5 W/m² over a period of time from 0.05–10 h. The motility of directly exposed ciliates and their non-exposed progeny across 10–15 generations was measured.

Results: Exposure to 0.1 W/m² of either 1 or 10 GHz RF-EMF resulted in a significant decrease in the motility. The dose of exposure capable of altering the mobility of ciliates was inversely correlated with the flux density of RF-EMF. The motility of the non-exposed progeny of ciliates irradiated with 0.1 W/m² of 10 GHz RF-EMF remained significantly compromised, at least, across 10–15 generations, thus indicating the presence of transgenerational effects.

Conclusions: The results of our study show that low-dose exposure to RF-EMF can significantly affect the motility of irradiated ciliates and their non-exposed offspring, thus providing further insights into the unknown mechanisms underlying the in vivo effects of RF-EMF.

Keywords::

• Radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation
• low-intensity electromagnetic fields
• ciliate
• motor activity

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the help of Dr Litovchenko with dosimetry and Dr Kozmin for fruitful discussion. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for critical reading of the manuscript and their very useful comments.

Declaration of interest

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

This work was supported by the Federal Target Program Scientific and Scientific-Pedagogical Personnel of Innovative Russia 2009–2013 (P968) to EIS. YED's work was also supported by grants from the EMF Biological Research Fund (091106/Z/10/Z) and Cancer Research UK (C23912/A12262).