Label-Free Study of the Global Cell Behavior during Exposure to Environmental Radiofrequency Fields in the Presence or Absence of Pro-Apoptotic or Pro-Autophagic Treatments.

Alexandre Joushomme,Anne Canovi,Florence Poulletier De Gannes,André Garenne,Muriel Priault,Philippe Lévêque,Yann Percherancier,Rémy Renom,Annabelle Hurtier,Delia Arnaud-Cormos,Mélody Dufossée,Noëlle Lewis,Lorenza Patrignoni,Yann Loick Chappe,Isabelle Lagroye,Hermanus Johannes Ruigrok

doi:10.3390/ijms23020658

Abstract

It remains controversial whether exposure to environmental radiofrequency signals (RF) impacts cell status or response to cellular stress such as apoptosis or autophagy. We used two label-free techniques, cellular impedancemetry and Digital Holographic Microscopy (DHM), to assess the overall cellular response during RF exposure alone, or during co-exposure to RF and chemical treatments known to induce either apoptosis or autophagy. Two human cell lines (SH-SY5Y and HCT116) and two cultures of primary rat cortex cells (astrocytes and co-culture of neurons and glial cells) were exposed to RF using an 1800 MHz carrier wave modulated with various environmental signals (GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications, 2G signal), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, 3G signal), LTE (Long-Term Evolution, 4G signal, and Wi-Fi) or unmodulated RF (continuous wave, CW). The specific absorption rates (S.A.R.) used were 1.5 and 6 W/kg during DHM experiments and ranged from 5 to 24 W/kg during the recording of cellular impedance. Cells were continuously exposed for three to five consecutive days while the temporal phenotypic signature of cells behavior was recorded at constant temperature. Statistical analysis of the results does not indicate that RF-EMF exposure impacted the global behavior of healthy, apoptotic, or autophagic cells, even at S.A.R. levels higher than the guidelines, provided that the temperature was kept constant.

Highlights

In the last thirty years, thousands of in vitro studies have been conducted to assess the potential physiological impacts of exposure to radiofrequency (RF) and extremely low-frequency fields [1,2,3]
Using our already described xCELL-RF system [15], we first assessed the temporal signature of the impedance variation of SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells over 72 h
The impedance variation is here defined by the Cell Index variable (CI, see Material and Methods)

Summary

Introduction

In the last thirty years, thousands of in vitro studies have been conducted to assess the potential physiological impacts of exposure to radiofrequency (RF) and extremely low-frequency fields [1,2,3]. These studies showed how extremely low-frequency fields induce nerve stimulation and how high-level RF exposures cause tissue heating at the biophysical level. In the context of health-risk assessment, this double challenge can only be addressed by continuing the search for the biological effects of RF exposure at levels below the guidelines using innovative methods

Methods

Results

Conclusion