Effects of 835-MHz Radiation on the Intracellular Calcium, Reactive Oxygen Species, and F-actin Polymerization in Rat-2 Fibroblasts

We investigated the effects of 835-MHz electromagnetic field (EMF), one of the most popular communication frequency band in Korean code-division multiple-access (CDMA) mobile phone system, on cellular signal transduction. For this, we examined the change of intracellular calcium $([Ca^{2+}]_i)$, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and F-actin polymerization after exposure to 835-MHz EMF followed by the treatment of agonists in Rat-2 fibroblast cells. Culture cells were pretreated with serum-tree medium and concomitantly exposed to 835-MHz at specific absorption rate (SAR) of 4.0 W/kg for 24 hr in a specialized designed apparatus based on Transverse Electro Magnetics (TEM) wave theory. Intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ responses to lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) in Rat-2 fibroblast after exposure to 835-MHz EMF were shown to be similar pattern as observed in normal cultured cells. However, the LPA-induced calcium spiking was slightly delayed to 7 sec and sustained thereafter to a little higher ground level under 835-MHz EMF radiation compared to unexposed cells. ROS production level by LPA in the exposed cells was not different from that in control. Furthermore, LPA induced the production of stress fibers with no significant difference in the exposed and unexposed cells. These results suggest that mobile phone radiation (835-MHz, SAR 4.0 W/kg) may not be directly related to signal transduction in Rat-2 fibroblasts except the slight effect of calcium spiking in LPA-induced cells but remain to be further elucidated for possible indirect intervention.