Exposure to cell phone radiation up-regulates apoptosis genes in primary cultures of neurons and astrocytes

The health effects of cell phone radiation exposure area growing public concern. This study investigated whether expression of genes related to cell death pathways are dysregulated in primary cultured neurons and astrocytes by exposure to a working Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) cell phone rated at a frequency of 1900 MHz. Primary cultures were exposed to cell phone emissions for 2 h. We used array analysis and real-time RT-PCR to show up-regulation of caspase-2, caspase-6 and Asc (apoptosis associated speck-like protein containing a card) gene expression in neurons and astrocytes. Up-regulation occurred in both on and stand-by mode-, in neurons, but only in on mode in astrocytes. Additionally, astrocytes showed up-regulation of the Bax gene. The effects arespecific since up-regulation was not seen for other genes associated with apoptosis, such as caspase-9 in either neurons or astrocytes, or Bax in neurons. The results show that even relatively short-term exposure to cell phone radiofrequency emissions can up-regulate elements of apoptotic pathways in cells derived from the brain, and that neurons appear to be more sensitive to this effect than astrocytes. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.