Medical/biological study (experimental study)

Acute effects of 30 minutes of exposure to a smartphone call on in vitro platelet function med./bio.

By: Lippi G, Danese E, Brocco G, Gelati M, Salvagno GL, Montagnana M

Published in: Blood Transfus 2017; 15: 249-253

The effects of exposure of human blood samples to a 900 MHz electromagnetic field on platelet function and structure should be investigated.

16 healthy volunteers from laboratory staff gave 2 blood samples, respectively. One sample from each donor was exposed to the electromagnetic field (exposure group), the other sample was prevented from "close contact" (see "expo parameters" for details) to sources of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (control group).

Exposure	Parameters
Exposure 1: 900 MHz Exposure duration: continuous for 30 minutes	-

Exposure source	cellular phone
Distance between exposed object and exposure source	1 cm
Chamber	3.5 ml evacuated plastic tube containing buffered sodium citrate
Setup	samples were placed in a plastic rack in 1 cm distant from the chassis of a commercial smartphone placed in a horizontal position; immediately after the samples had been positioned in the plastic rack, a call was placed on the smartphone and the communication was manually activated with 3G and Wi-Fi connections disabled (remark EMF-Portal: it is unclear which signal was actually used for exposure); during this period, the rack with samples and smartphone was gently inverted upside-down once every 5 min to prevent sedimentation of corpuscular blood elements
Additional info	control samples were placed in another plastic rack for 90 min. and the rack was gently inverted upside-down once every 5 min. during 30 min. period (as for the samples of the exposure group); the untreated blood samples were carefully prevented from being in close contact (< 1 m) to mobile phones or other radiofrequency sources throughout the study period

No parameters are specified for this exposure.

Exposed system:

cell function: function and structure of human platelets (platelet count and volume, platelet aggregation triggered by collagen and ADP or collagen and epinephrine (automated analyzers))

Investigated system:

Time of investigation:

Exposure of human blood to the electromagnetic field induced a significant prolongation of collagen-epinephrine aggregation and a significant increase of mean platelet volume compared to the control group. Collagen-ADP aggregation and platelet count did not show significant differences between the groups.
The authors conclude that exposure of human blood samples to a 900 MHz electromagnetic field might disturb platelet function and alter platelet structure.

Study character:

Lippi G et al. (2016): Thirty-minutes' exposure to smartphone call triggers neutrophil activation in vitro
Rogowska A et al. (2016): High-frequency (13.56-MHz) and ultrahigh-frequency (915-MHz) radio identification systems do not affect platelet activation and functions
Wang QL et al. (2013): Impact on storage quality of red blood cells and platelets by ultrahigh-frequency radiofrequency identification tags
El-Bediwi AB et al. (2013): Influence of electromagnetic radiation produced by mobile phone on some biophysical blood properties in rats
Parkar MA et al. (2010): Effect of cell phone exposure on physiologic and hematologic parameters of male medical students of Bijapur (Karnataka) with reference to serum lipid profile
Davis R et al. (2010): Absence of acute adverse in-vitro effects on AS-1 RBCs and whole blood-derived platelets following prolonged exposure to 13.56 MHz radio energy
Kirichuck VF et al. (2008): Sex-specific differences in changes of disturbed functional activity of platelets in albino rats under the effect of terahertz electromagnetic radiation at nitric oxide frequencies
Piana ML et al. (1981): Effects of microwave irradiation on human blood platelets