Quality Matters: Systematic Analysis of Endpoints Related to “Cellular Life” in Vitro Data of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Field Exposure

Myrtill Simkó, Daniel Remondini, Olga Zeni and Maria Rosaria Scarfi
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Myrtill Simkó: Environmental Resources and Technologies, Department Health and Environment, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Tulln 3430, Austria
Daniel Remondini: Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Bologna 40126, Italy
Olga Zeni: CNR-Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing of the Environment, Napoli 80124, Italy
Maria Rosaria Scarfi: CNR-Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing of the Environment, Napoli 80124, Italy

IJERPH, 2016, vol. 13, issue 7, 1-16

Abstract: Possible hazardous effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) at low exposure levels are controversially discussed due to inconsistent study findings. Therefore, the main focus of the present study is to detect if any statistical association exists between RF-EMF and cellular responses, considering cell proliferation and apoptosis endpoints separately and with both combined as a group of “cellular life” to increase the statistical power of the analysis. We searched for publications regarding RF-EMF in vitro studies in the PubMed database for the period 1995–2014 and extracted the data to the relevant parameters, such as cell culture type, frequency, exposure duration, SAR, and five exposure-related quality criteria. These parameters were used for an association study with the experimental outcome in terms of the defined endpoints. We identified 104 published articles, from which 483 different experiments were extracted and analyzed. Cellular responses after exposure to RF-EMF were significantly associated to cell lines rather than to primary cells. No other experimental parameter was significantly associated with cellular responses. A highly significant negative association with exposure condition-quality and cellular responses was detected, showing that the more the quality criteria requirements were satisfied, the smaller the number of detected cellular responses. According to our knowledge, this is the first systematic analysis of specific RF-EMF bio-effects in association to exposure quality, highlighting the need for more stringent quality procedures for the exposure conditions.

Keywords: apoptosis; cell proliferation; association analysis; electromagnetic fields; in vitro (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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