Effects of 1950 MHz radiofrequency electromagnetic fields on Aβ processing in human neuroblastoma and mouse hippocampal neuronal cells

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease leading to progressive loss of memory and other cognitive functions. One of the well-known pathological markers of AD is the accumulation of amyloid-beta protein (Aβ), and its plaques, in the brain. Recent studies using Tg-5XFAD mice as a model of AD have reported that exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) from cellular phones reduced Aβ plaques in the brain and showed beneficial effects on AD. In this study, we examined whether exposure to 1950 MHz RF-EMF affects Aβ processing in neural cells. We exposed HT22 mouse hippocampal neuronal cells and SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells to RF-EMF (SAR 6 W/kg) for 2 h per day for 3 days, and analyzed the mRNA and protein expression of the key genes related to Aβ processing. When exposed to RF-EMF, mRNA levels of APP, BACE1, ADAM10 and PSEN1 were decreased in HT22, but the mRNA level of APP was not changed in SH-SY5Y cells. The protein expression of APP and BACE1, as well as the secreted Aβ peptide, was not significantly different between RF-EMF–exposed 7w-PSML, HT22 and SH-SY5Y cells and the unexposed controls. These observations suggest that RF-EMF exposure may not have a significant physiological effect on Aβ processing of neural cells in the short term. However, considering that we only exposed HT22 and SH-SY5Y cells to RF-EMF for 2 h per day for 3 days, we cannot exclude the possibility that 1950 MHz RF-EMF induces physiological change in Aβ processing with long-term and continuous exposure.