Derangement of chick embryo retinal differentiation caused by radiofrequency electromagnetic fields

Zareen N, Khan MY, Minhas LA

Congenit Anom (Kyoto). 49(1):15-19, 2009

The possible adverse effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted from mobile phones present a major public concern. Biological electrical activities of the human body are vulnerable to interference from oscillatory aspects of EMF, which affect fundamental cellular activities, in particular, the highly active development process of embryos. Some studies highlight the possible health hazards of EMF, while others contest the hypothesis of biological impact of EMF.

The present study was designed to observe the histomorphological effects of EMF emitted by a mobile phone on the retinae of developing chicken embryos.

Fertilized chicken eggs were exposed to a ringing mobile set on silent tone placed in the incubator at different ages of development. After exposure for the scheduled duration the retinae of the embryos were dissected out and processed for histological examination.

The control and experimental embryos were statistically compared for retinal thickness and epithelial pigmentation grades.

Contrasting effects of EMF on the retinal histomorphology were noticed, depending on the duration of exposure. The embryos exposed for 10 post-incubation days exhibited decreased retinal growth and mild pigmentation of the epithelium. Growth retardation reallocated to growth enhancement on increasing EMF exposure for 15 post-incubation days, with a shift of pigmentation grade from mild to intense.

We conclude that EMF emitted by a mobile phone cause derangement of chicken embryo retinal differentiation.