Supplementary MaterialsSupplementary information. for 72?h at 1 and 2 SAR did not induce DNA double strand breaks or apoptotic cell death, but did trigger a slight delay in the G1 to S cell cycle transition. Cell senescence was also clearly observed in ASC and Huh7 cells exposed to RF-EMF at 2 SAR for 72?h. Intracellular ROS increased in these cells and the treatment with an ROS scavenger recapitulated the anti-proliferative effect of RF-EMF. These observations strongly suggest that 1.7?GHz LTE RF-EMF decrease proliferation and increase senescence by increasing intracellular ROS in human cells. vitro14. Exposure to 1800 MHz RF has been reported to induce oxidative damage in mitochondrial DNA and the cellular functions of cultured human neurogenic cells and lens epithelial cells15,16. These inconsistencies may be due to differences in exposure devices, exposure conditions, or the source of the cells. In addition, recent wireless communication technology is usually using 4th generation communication long-term evolution (4G-LTE), which provides very fast internet speeds over currently used radio frequencies. However, the Lapatinib (free base) cellular effects of LTE RF-EMF on various human cells have not yet been well documented. The physiological impact of RF on tissues or cells involves both thermal and non-thermal effects17. Studies on 900?MHz RF-EMF have proposed that heat, ROS generation, disruption of calcium homeostasis, and changes in gene expression are the major mechanisms involved in the biological effects of electromagnetic fields18C21. In this study, we investigated the nonthermal effects of 1.7?GHz LTE RF-EMF around the growth of various human cells including adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ASCs), liver cancer stem cell (CSC) populations of Huh7 and Hep3B, the neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y, the cervical cancer HeLa, and the normal fibroblast IMR-90 cells. Considering the current maximum permitted exposure values (2?W/kg in Europe and 1.6?W/kg in the US)22, we tested the effect of 1 1.7?GHz LTE Lapatinib (free base) RF-EMF at 1?W/kg (SAR) and 2?W/kg. Results Continuous exposure to 1.7?GHz LTE RF-EMF decreased human cell proliferation Electro-magnetic exposure devices are not commercially standardized and are generally manufactured in various forms depending on the purpose of study23. We designed an RTL structured device in this study, and the detailed information on the device was described in Materials and Methods (Figs.?1 and ?and2).2). Our aim of this study was to investigate the non-thermal effect of 1.7?GHz LTE RF-EMF. Thus, we tried to minimize the thermal effect by installing a forced refrigerated water-cooling system in the incubator attached to the antenna generating 1.7?GHz LTE RF-EMF (Fig.?2). In order to investigate the non-thermal cellular effect of 1.7?GHz LTE Lapatinib (free base) RF-EMF on various human cells, we continuously incubated ASCs, a liver CSC population of Huh7 and Hep3B, HeLa and SH-SY5Y cancer cells, and normal fibroblast IMR-90 cells for Keratin 8 antibody 72?h in a 1.7?GHz LTE RF-EMF at 1 and 2 SAR, respectively. Open in a separate window Physique 1 Design of the 1.7?GHz LTE RF-EMF cell exposure system. (A) A schematic diagram of the radial transmission line (RTL) exposure system. (B) Cross-sectional view of the RTL exposure chamber. (C) Return loss characteristics of the RTL exposure chamber. (D) Antenna and the measurement points in each culture plate. (E) Temperature and linear fitting for the center point at the LTE 1.7?GHz frequency. Temperature was measured without circulating water during RF exposure. Open in a separate window Physique 2 1.7?GHz LTE RF-EMF cell exposure device and its water cooling system. (A) The 1.7?GHz LTE RF-EMF cell exposure device used. (B) A water cooling system for the incubator to forcibly lower the heated water temperature by 1.7?GHz RF-EMF. (C) The chamber of the incubator with a 1.7?GHz RF-EMF LTE antenna. (D) A plate for cell culture dishes in (C) are located 13.6?cm from the conical antenna in the center of the exposure chamber. (E) A diagram of (D) designating the position of the cell dishes for accurate SAR exposure. (F) The SAR conversion table for this RF-EMF exposure device. SAR values for precise exposure conditions were obtained through engineering calculations. (G) The X-axis in the upper and lower graphs represents the real-time at which the RF-EMF is being uncovered.