Wi-Fi Exposure May Increase Risk of Neurodegenerative Disease

Wi-Fi Exposure May Increase Risk of Neurodegenerative Disease

Joel's comments:  The significant effects on microRNAs observed in this study were found from Wi-Fi exposure that was well below the legal limit. The FCC's whole-body exposure limit for the general population is 0.08 watts/kilogram. In this study, the average whole body exposure was 0.0001414 watts/kilogram (141.4  μW/kg), and the peak exposure was 0.007127 watts/kilogram (7127 μW/kg).

"We found that miR-106b-5p and miR-107 expression decreased 3.6 and 3.3 times in the exposure group, respectively. Therefore, we state that 2.4 GHz RF radiation emitted from wireless equipment may be associated with prognoses of some brain diseases because of the relation between some diseases and alteration in miR-106b-5p and miR-107 expression."

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Effects Of 2.4 Ghz Radiofrequency Radiation Emitted From Wi-Fi Equipment On microRna Expression In Brain Tissue

Dasdag S, Akdag MZ, Erdal ME, Erdal N, Ay OI, Ay ME, Yilmaz SG, Tasdelen B, Yegin K. Effects Of 2.4 Ghz Radiofrequency Radiation Emitted From Wi-Fi Equipment On microRna Expression In Brain Tissue. Int J Radiat Biol. 2015 Mar 16:1-26. [Epub ahead of print] Doi: 10.3109/09553002.2015.1028599

Abstract

PURPOSE: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play paramount role in growth, differentiation, proliferation and cell death by suppressing one or more target genes. However, their interaction with radiofrequencies is still unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the long term effects of radiofrequency radiation emitted from a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) system on some of the miRNAs in brain tissue.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was carried out on sixteen Wistar Albino adult male rats by dividing them into two groups such as sham (n: 8) and exposure (n: 8). Rats in the exposure group were exposed to 2.4 GHz radiofrequency (RF) radiation for 24 hours a day for twelve months (one year). The same procedure was applied to the rats in the sham group except the Wi-Fi system was turned off. Immediately after the last exposure, rats were sacrificed and their brains were removed. miR-9-5p, miR-29a-3p, miR-106b-5p, miR-107, miR-125a-3p in brain were investigated in detail.

RESULTS: The results revealed that long term exposure of 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi radiation can alter expression of some of the miRNAs such as miR-106b-5p (ad jP* = 0,010) and miR-107 (adj P* = 0,005). We observed that mir 107 expression is 3.3 times and miR-106b-5p expression is 3.65 times lower in the exposure group than in the control group. However, miR-9-5p, miR-29a-3p and miR-125a-3p levels in brain were not altered.

CONCLUSION: Long term exposure of 2.4 GHz RF may lead to adverse effects such as neurodegenerative diseases originated from the alteration of some miRNAs expression and more studies should be devoted to the effects of RF radiation on miRNAs expression levels.

http://1.usa.gov/1Cs15qg

Excerpts

miRNAs are small and non-protein-coding RNA molecules. They play critical roles in growth, differentiation, proliferation and cell death by suppressing one or more target genes. miRNAs may be located in the introns and exons of protein-coding genes or in intergenic regions. More than 50% of miRNAs are found in cancer associated regions of the genome or in fragile sites; this suggests that miRNAs have important roles in the pathogenesis of neoplasias (Tunali et al. 2010). Therefore, miRNAs represent new stars in the gene regulation galaxy, and there is a strong interest among researchers in different fields to understand their mechanism of action and to identify their targets (Sevignani et al. 2006).

Alzheimer disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that currently affects nearly 2% of the population in industrialized countries. The risk of AD dramatically increases in individuals usually after age 70, and it is predicted that the incidence of AD will increase by 3-fold within the next 50 years. This progressive disease is characterized by the accumulation of plaques formed of short amyloid (A ) peptides (Boissonneault et al. 2009). Most of the studies investigate interaction between the radiation and miRNA have been usually focused on the effects of ultraviolet and ionizing radiation (Aypar et al. 2010, Zhou et al. 2012, Simone et al. 2009). Whereas, a study on the interaction between radiofrequencies (RF) radiation emitted from Wi-Fi and microRNAs, especially on the interaction between Wi-Fi radiation and brain is not available yet. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of chronic exposure of Wi-Fi radiation, which is widely used in
daily life, on some miRNAs in brain. In this study, effects of chronic exposure of 2.4 GHz radiofrequency on miR-9-5p, miR-29a-3p, miR-106b-5p, miR-107 and miR-125a-3p were observed in the brain.

Rats in the exposure group were subject to 2.4 GHz RF radiation 24 h/d for 12 months. Rats in both groups were kept 50 cm far away from the antenna
of the generator (Figure 1) ... The cage was surrounded with electromagnetic absorber material backed by metal to isolate outdoor electromagnetic fields from the test setup during the study duration of 12 months.

Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) signal generator with 100 mW peak (50 mW rms) power was connected to a tuned half-wavelength dipole antenna and the dipole antenna was positioned in front of a reflector plate to direct electromagnetic signals towards Plexiglas carousel. The separation between the antenna and the top of the carousel was approximately 4 λ where λ is the free space propagation wavelength at 2.45 GHz ...

Results of this study showed that the long term exposure of 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi exposure may affect some of miRNAs such as miR-106b-5p and miR-107 (adjP*<0 .05="" 1030="" 10="" 141.4="" 1510="" 1="" 2.4="" 2.="" 2="" 370="" 3="" 4000="" 7127="" a="" altered="" and="" are="" as="" average="" body="" brain="" by="" calculations="" cerebral="" exposure="" figure="" fluid="" found="" g="" ghz="" hand="" however="" igure="" in="" kg="" level="" levels="" long="" maximum="" mir-125a-3p="" mir-29a-3p="" mir-9-5p="" nbsp="" not="" of="" on="" other="" point="" radiation.="" rat="" representative="" respectively.="" respectively="" results="" rf="" rms="" sar="" span="" summarized="" table="" term="" the="" used.="" was="" weight="" were="" whole="" with="">

Determination of miR-9-5p, miR-29a-3p, miR-106b-5p, miR-107, miR-125a-3p expression in brain may be associated with some diseases such as acute myeloblastic leukemia, alcohol dependence, Alzheimer disease, autism and diabetes, which are developed depending on the alteration in transcription of genes such as BACE1, BDNF, GAB2, PSEN1, PSEN2, SIRT1, SLC1A2, VEGFA ...

... In our study, we observed that miR-106b-5p expression in rat brain was 3.65 times decreased when rats were exposed to long term 2.4 GHz radiofrequencies radiation. Hence, it can be stated that some diseases may be associated with long term 2.4 GHz radiofrequency radiation exposure, which also reduced the miR-106b-5p expression in this study because of miR-106-5p was defined as the tumor suppressor and neurodegenerative agent in brain or other organs. Therefore, 2.4 GHz RF radiation may be accepted as one of the risk factors for prognoses of some diseases associated with miR-106-5p.

In summary, we observed that 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi radiation emitted from wireless internet equipment altered the expression of two of five miRNAs investigated in this study. Our results showed that miR-106b-5p and miR-107 expression were decreased by RF radiation while miR-9-5p, miR-29a-3p and miR-125a-3p expressions were not altered. We found that miR-106b-5p and miR-107 expression decreased 3.6 and 3.3 times in the exposure group, respectively. Therefore, we state that 2.4 GHz RF radiation emitted from wireless equipment may be associated with prognoses of some brain diseases because of the relation between some diseases and alteration in miR-106b-5p and miR-107 expression. However, we note that this is the first animal study to investigate the effects of radiofrequencies on miRNAs expression. The results of this study may be replicated at a larger group of animals. Further investigation on the biological aspects of micro RNAs dysregulation in brain may help us better understand the pathogenesis of many diseases.

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Joel M. Moskowitz, Ph.D., Director
Center for Family and Community Health
School of Public Health
University of California, Berkeley

Electromagnetic Radiation Safety

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