Abstract

OBJECTIVES
There has been gradually increasing concern about the adverse health effects of electromagnetic radiation originating from cell phones which are widely used in modern life. Cell phone radiation may affect human health by increasing free radicals of human blood cells. This study has been designed to identify DNA damage of blood cells by electromagnetic radiation caused by cell phone use. METHODS: This study investigated the health effect of acute exposure to commercially available cell phones on certain parameters such as an indicator of DNA damage for 14 healthy adult volunteers. Each volunteer during the experiment talked over the cell phone with the keypad facing the right side of the face for 4 hours. The single cell gel electrophoresis assay (Comet assay), which is very sensitive in detecting the presence of DNA strand-breaks and alkali-labile damage in individual cells, was used to assess peripheral blood cells (T-cells, B-cells, granulocytes) from volunteers before and after exposure to cell phone radiation. The parameters of Comet assay measured were Olive Tail Moment and Tail DNA %. RESULTS: The Olive Tail Moment of B-cells and granulocytes and Tail DNA % of B-cells and granulocytes were increased by a statistically significant extent after 4- hour use of a cell phone compared with controls. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that cell phone radiation caused the DNA damage during the 4 hours of experimental condition. Nonetheless, this study suggested that cell phone use may increase DNA damage by electromagnetic radiation and other contributing factors.

• Keywords: Cellular phoneDNA damageComet assayLymphocytes