Effects of acute exposure to the radiofrequency fields of cellular phones on plasma lipid peroxide and antioxidase activities in human erythrocytes

Radiofrequency fields of cellular phones may affect biological systems by increasing free radicals, which appear mainly to enhance lipid peroxidation, and by changing the antioxidase activities of human blood thus leading to oxidative stress. To test this, we have investigated the effect of acute exposure to radiofrequency fields of commercially available cellular phones on some parameters indicative of oxidative stress in 12 healthy adult male volunteers. Each volunteer put the phone in his pocket in standby position with the keypad facing the body. The parameters measured were lipid peroxide and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), total glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and catalase. The results obtained showed that the plasma level of lipid peroxide was significantly increased after 1, 2 and 4 h of exposure to radiofrequency fields of the cellular phone in standby position. Moreover, the activities of SOD and GSH-Px in human erythrocytes showed significant reduction while the activity of catalase in human erythrocytes did not decrease significantly. These results indicate that acute exposure to radiofrequency fields of commercially available cellular phones may modulate the oxidative stress of free radicals by enhancing lipid peroxidation and reducing the activation of SOD and GSH-Px, which are free radical scavengers. Therefore, these results support the interaction of radiofrequency fields of cellular phones with biological systems. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.