in vitro effect of cell phone radiation on motility, dna fragmentation and clusterin gene expression in human sperm

background: use of cellular phones emitting radiofrequency electromagnetic field (rf-emf) has been increased exponentially and become a part of everyday life. this study aimed to investigate the effects of in vitro rf-emf exposure emitted from cellular phones on sperm motility index, sperm dna fragmentation and seminal clusterin (clu) gene expression. materials and methods: in this prospective study, a total of 124 semen samples were grouped into the following main categories: i. normozoospermia (n, n=26), ii. asthenozoospermia (a, n=32), iii. asthenoteratozoospermia (at, n=31) and iv. oligoasthenoteratozoospermia (oat, n=35). the same semen samples were then divided into two portions non-exposed and exposed samples to cell phone radiation for 1 hour. before and immediately after exposure, both aliquots were subjected to different assessments for sperm motility, acrosin activity, sperm dna fragmentation and clu gene expression. statistical differences were analyzed using paired t student test for comparisons between two sub-groups where p<0.05 was set as significant. results: there was a significant decrease in sperm motility, sperm linear velocity, sperm linearity index, and sperm acrosin activity, whereas there was a significant increase in sperm dna fragmentation percent, clu gene expression and clu protein levels in the exposed semen samples to rf-emf compared with non-exposed samples in oat>at>a>n groups, respectively (p<0.05). conclusion: cell phone emissions have a negative impact on exposed sperm motility index, sperm acrosin activity, sperm dna fragmentation and seminal clu gene expression, especially in oat cases.