The Effects of Electromagnetic Fields on Mitochondria: An Ultra‐structural and Biochemical Study
Authors: Siddiqi Najam , Al Nizwani Naseer Salem , Shaikh Zoya , Shalaby Asem , Tamimi Yahyah 
Published: June 2021

Smart phones use non‐ionizing low frequency electromagnetic waves (RFW) for communication. Excessive use of smart phones may cause adverse health effects. We studied the effects of these RFW on the developing chick embryo. 40 ‘Cobb’ (Gallus gallus domesticus) breed zero‐day fertilized chicken eggs were randomly divided into control and exposed groups. A popular mobile phone and service provider was selected with 1800 MHz frequency, power of 0.47 W/kg and SAR 1.10 w/KG. The mobile phone was placed inside the 30‐egg incubator in call receiving mode in the exposed group, while in the control group, mobile phone was not used. Mobile phone was called by another mobile from outside for 50 minutes daily starting from day one of incubation. The embryos were sacrificed at day 10 (total exposure time 500 minutes) and day 15 (total exposure time 750 minutes), liver and heart tissues were dissected for electron microscopy, heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and its mRNA. Results revealed increase in the number of mitochondria in the hepatocytes at day 10 in the exposed group. At day 15, the mitochondria were rounded, elongated, or dumbbell shaped, and cristae were disorganization with areas of degeneration. The mitochondria were found surrounded by fragments of rough endoplasmic reticulum and free ribosomes and an increase number of lipid filled vacuoles were observed in the cytoplasm of the hepatocytes. In the heart muscle, mitochondria became elongated with areas of degeneration of the cristae, however, rough endoplasmic reticulum or free ribosomes were not seen surrounding the mitochondria. Geoffry N et al. reported that mitochondria are the source of free radicals produced in response to electromagnetic wave exposure in human sperms. It was further reported that potential causative mechanism of electron leakage from the mitochondrial electron transport chain caused oxidative DNA damage. Hsin‐Chen LEE reported that oxidative stress induced by H2O2 leads to increase number of mitochondria and mtDNA in human lung. Gorczynska and Wegrzynowicz reported that mitochondria was the most sensitive organelle to cell stress leading to its swelling, source of free radicals, which was due to electron leakage from the mitochondrial electron transport chain. Increase levels of mRNA and Hsp70 were observed in the exposed groups at both day 10 and 15. This increase was 14% at day 10 and became 39% at day 15 demonstrating cellular mechanism in attempting to express housekeeping genes and Hsp70 for survival. Hsp70 is a multifaceted chaperon protein that is conserved across species and is involved in many cellular metabolic processes. We conclude that RFW exposure caused early damage to mitochondria in liver and heart tissues of chick embryo and resulted in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production which caused marked increase in mRNA and Hsp70.

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This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.