Exposure to mobile phone radiations at 2350 MHz incites cyto- and genotoxic effects in root meristems of Allium cepa

Abstract

Background: The exponential increase of electromagnetic field radiations (EMF-r) in the natural environment has raked up the controversies regarding their biological effects. Concern regarding the putative capacity of EMF-r to affect living beings has been growing due to the ongoing elevation in the use of high frequency EMF-r in communication systems, e.g. Mobile phones. Methods: In the present study, we tried to examine the cyto- and genotoxic potential of mobile phone EMF-r at 2350 MHz using onions (Allium cepa L.). Fresh adventitious onion roots were exposed to continuous EMF-r at 2350 MHz for different time periods (1 h, 2 h and 4 h). The evaluation of cytotoxicity was done in terms of mitotic index (MI), phase index and chromosomal aberrations. Genotoxicity was investigated employing comet assay in terms of changes in % HDNA (head DNA) and % TDNA (tail DNA), TM (tail moment) and OTM (olive tail moment). Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and mean values were separated using post hoc Tukey's test. Results: The results manifested a significant increase of MI and chromosomal aberrations (%) upon 4 h, and ≥ 2 h of exposure, respectively, as compared to the control. No specific changes in phase index in response to EMF-r exposure were observed. The % HDNA and % TDNA values exhibited significant changes in contrast to that of control upon 2 h and 4 h of exposure, respectively. However, TM and OTM did not change significantly. Conclusions: Our results infer that continuous exposures of radiofrequency EMF-r (2350 MHz) for long durations have a potential of inciting cyto- and genotoxic effects in onion root meristems. © 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG.