The Microwave Factor: Mobile phone & Wi-Fi radiation alters hormone concentrations & oxidative stress in pregnant rats & their offspring

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Mobile phone & Wi-Fi radiation alters hormone concentrations & oxidative stress in pregnant rats & their offspring

Long-term exposure to electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones and Wi-Fi devices decreases plasma prolactin, progesterone, and estrogen levels but increases uterine oxidative stress in pregnant rats and their offspring

Yüksel M, Nazıroğlu M, Özkaya MO.

Long-term exposure to electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones and Wi-Fi devices decreases plasma prolactin, progesterone, and estrogen levels but increases uterine oxidative stress in pregnant rats and their offspring. Endocrine. 2015 Nov 14. [Epub ahead of print]

Abstract

We investigated the effects of mobile phone (900 and 1800 MHz)- and Wi-Fi (2450 MHz)-induced electromagnetic radiation (EMR) exposure on uterine oxidative stress and plasma hormone levels in pregnant rats and their offspring.

Thirty-two rats and their forty newborn offspring were divided into the following four groups according to the type of EMR exposure they were subjected to: the control, 900, 1800, and 2450 MHz groups. Each experimental group was exposed to EMR for 60 min/day during the pregnancy and growth periods. The pregnant rats were allowed to stand for four generations (total 52 weeks) before, plasma and uterine samples were

Mobile phone & Wi-Fi radiation alters hormone concentrations & oxidative stress in pregnant rats & their offspring

Although uterine lipid peroxidation increased in the EMR groups, uterine glutathione peroxidase activity (4th and 5th weeks) and plasma prolactin levels (6th week) in developing rats decreased in these groups. In the maternal rats, the plasma prolactin, estrogen, and progesterone levels decreased in the EMR groups, while the plasma total oxidant status, and body temperatures increased. There were no changes in the levels of reduced glutathione, total antioxidants, or vitamins A, C, and E in the uterine and plasma samples of maternal rats.

In conclusion, although EMR exposure decreased the prolactin, estrogen, and progesterone levels in the plasma of maternal rats and their offspring, EMR-induced oxidative stress in the uteri of maternal rats increased during the development of offspring. Mobile phone- and Wi-Fi-induced EMR may be one cause of increased oxidative uterine injury in growing rats and decreased hormone levels in maternal rats. TRPV1 cation channels are the possible molecular pathways responsible for changes in the hormone, oxidative stress, and body temperature levels in the uterus of maternal rats following a year-long exposure to electromagnetic radiation exposure from mobile phones and Wi-Fi devices. It is likely that TRPV1-mediated Ca2+ entry in the uterus of pregnant rats involves accumulation of oxidative stress and opening of mitochondrial membrane pores that consequently leads to mitochondrial dysfunction, substantial swelling of the mitochondria with rupture of the outer membrane and release of oxidants such as superoxide (O2 -) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The superoxide radical is converted to H2O2 by superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme. Glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) is an important antioxidant enzyme for removing lipid hydroperoxides and hydrogen peroxide and it catalyzes the reduction of H2O2 to water.

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Excerpts

The 32 female rats were randomly divided into four equal groups as follows:

Group A (n = 8): Control rats were exposed to cage stress 60 min/day from four generations (5 days/week).

Group B (n = 8): Rats were exposed to 900 MHz for 60 min/day from four generations (5 days/week) [14].

Group C (n = 8): Rats were exposed to 1800 MHz for 60 min/day from four generations (5 days/week) [14].

Group D (n = 8): Rats were exposed to 2450 MHz for 60 min/day from four generations (5 days/week) [15].

Groups B, C, and D were irradiated for 1 h (between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.) every day, 5 days a week (total of 52 weeks). Control rats were exposed to cage stress without exposure to radiofrequencies. The 32 pregnant rats were allowed to stand for four generations. Last maturation was performed at 42 weeks and pregnancy was detected by the presence of sperm in the vaginal smear. Gestational malformation or prenatal deaths of the offspring were not observed during the experiment. At the beginning of the pregnancy, female adults were exposed to EMR (60 min/day) for an additional 3 weeks. After determining the sexes of the offspring, the female offspring were exposed to additional EMR until 6 weeks of age. Control offspring and female rats were kept in the same cage stress condition without radiation for an additional 9 weeks.

In the current study, n = 6 per group was considered the minimum number required for the statistical analyses. However, this was a long-term (1 year) study, and management of the study was thus very difficult. For example, each rat received EMR 5 days per week for one year. In addition, in such a long-term experiment, there is also a risk of death in the rats. Hence, n = 8 was considered suitable for the statistical analyses, taking the death risk into account. For these reasons, the Experimentation Ethics Committee of the Suleyman Demirel University approved the use of 8 rats per group in this study.

A generator from Biçer Electronic Co (Sakarya, Turkey) equipped with a half-wave dipole antenna system was used to irradiate the rats with 900-, 1800-, and 2450-MHz radio frequencies with 217-Hz pulses. The electric field density was set at 20 dB and 11 V/m in order to obtain 0.1 W/kg whole-body average specific absorption rate (SAR). Recently, we investigated the role of distances of Wi-Fi devices and mobile phones on molecular pathways [8]. We observed that mobile phone and Wi-Fi devices induced oxidative toxic effects up until distances of 10 and 25 cm, respectively [8]. Hence, the distance of the antenna from the uterus of the rats for Wi-Fi device (2450 MHz) and mobile phone (900 and 1800 MHz) exposures were 25 and 10 cm, respectively. The rats were placed in a cylindrical container with the radio frequency source for 1 h ....

In conclusion, our data indicate that mobile phones emitting 900 and 1800 MHz and Wi-Fi emitting 2450 MHz EMR induce modifications of both hormone (progesterone, estrogen, and prolactin) concentrations and oxidative stress levels in growing and maternal rats. These results also suggest that exposure to mobile phones and Wi-Fi emitting EMR frequencies appears to affect rat endocrine functions and oxidative stress values, and indicate the need for further studies investigating the effects of such exposure in humans. The present study demonstrates that mobile phone and Wi-Fi-induced EMR may be a cause of uterine injury in growing rats. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the role of mobile phone-induced EMR exposure on growing rat uteri. Though our experiment was performed with a long duration of exposure, it cannot be ruled out that repetitive exposures for 2 years or more may have additional effects on rats and humans, especially on young teenagers who often use their mobile phones for several hours per day.