The gene expression level of p53 and p21 in mouse brain exposed to radiofrequency field

Background:  Widespread and growing sources of electromagnetic radiation raised concerns attributed to the potential adverse health risk of radiofrequency fields. Given the functional importance of the hippocampus, this study aimed to investigate the effects of electromagnetic waves radiated by mobile jammer on hippocampal expression of p21 and p53 genes as regulators of cellular apoptosis. Materials and Methods: Forty-eight male BALB/c mice were randomly divided into six groups (n=8 each).  Animals in the experimental groups were radiated at the frequencies of 900 and 1800 megahertz for a period of 30 consecutive days, while the control group remains constant during the experiment. The hippocampal expression of p21and p53 mRNAs were evaluated using Real-Time PCR. Results: There were not differences between the mean expression level of p53 and p21 genes of the exposure groups compared to those of the control group (P>0.05). The ratio expression of p53 and p21 genes was increased to greater than one (p53/p21>1) in almost all experimental groups compared to controls. However, there was not significant differences between the expression level of p53 and p21 genes among the experimental groups using paired t test (p>0.05). Conclusion: Taken together, our findings demonstrate changes in hippocampal expression level of p53 and p21 after mobile jammer radiation. However, cell condition expected to remain relatively stable over the exposure period due to parallel changes of both pro- and anti- apoptotic genes at the same time.