DNA damage in frog erythrocytes after in vitro exposure to a high peak-power pulsed electromagnetic field.

Chemeris NK, Gapeyev AB, Sirota NP, Gudkova OY, Kornienko NV, Tankanag AV, Konovalov IV, Buzoverya ME, Suvorov VG, Logunov VA

Mutat Res. 558(1-2):27-34, 2004

Till the present time, the genotoxic effects of high peak-power pulsed electromagnetic fields (HPPP EMF) on cultured cells have not been studied. We investigated possible genotoxic effects of HPPP EMF (8.8GHz, 180ns pulse width, peak power 65kW, repetition rate 50Hz) on erythrocytes of the frog Xenopus laevis. We used the alkaline comet assay, which is a highly sensitive method to assess DNA single-strand breaks and alkali-labile lesions.

Blood samples were exposed to HPPP EMF for 40min in rectangular wave guide. The specific absorption rate (SAR) calculated from temperature kinetics was about 1.6kW/kg (peak SAR was about 300MW/kg). The temperature rise in the blood samples at steady state was [Formula: see text] degrees C.

The data show that the increase in DNA damage after exposure of erythrocytes to HPPP EMF was induced by the rise in temperature in the exposed cell suspension. This was confirmed in experiments in which cells were incubated for 40min under the corresponding temperature conditions. The results allow us to conclude that HPPP EMF-exposure at the given modality did not cause any a-thermal genotoxic effect on frog erythrocytes in vitro.