Medical/biological study (observational study)

Is human saliva an indicator of the adverse health effects of using mobile phones? med./bio.

By: Hamzany Y, Feinmesser R, Shpitzer T, Mizrachi A, Hilly O, Hod R, Bahar G, Otradnov I, Gavish M, Nagler RM

Published in: Antioxid Redox Signal 2013; 18 (6): 622-627

The study compared salivary secretion, focusing on various salivary components and oxidative stress indices, between users of mobile phones and non-users.

20 subjects (10 men, 10 women) served as "mobile phone exposure group" and had a mean duration of mobile phone use of 12.5 years (range 8-15) and a mean time use of 29.6 hours per month (range 8-100). Deaf individuals matching in age and gender served as controls.
Mobile phone use was identified by a questionnaire.

Exposure	Parameters
Exposure 1: RF (≥ 10 MHz) Exposure duration: mobile phone use of a mean time of 29.6 hours/month during 12.5 years	-

Frequency	RF (≥ 10 MHz)
Type	electromagnetic field
Exposure duration	mobile phone use of a mean time of 29.6 hours/month during 12.5 years

Exposure source	cellular phone

No parameters are specified for this exposure.

Exposed system:

endocrine changes: effects on saliva: sialometrical analysis (flow rate), sialochemical analysis (levels of total protein and albumin (clinical analyzer), amylase test, levels of calcium and magnesium (atomic absorption spectrophotometry), and phosphate (spectrophotometry)), salivary oxidative stress indices (levels of malondialdehyde (via thiobarbituric acid reactive substances), carbonyls (ELISA), antioxidative capacity (ImAnOx test, ELISA), superoxide dismutase and uric acid levels (spectrophotometry))

Investigated system:

Time of investigation:

The data showed a significant increase in all salivary oxidative stress indices studied in mobile phone users. Salivary flow was increased and total protein, albumin and amylase activity were decreased in mobile phone users.
The authors conclude, that the use of mobile phones may cause oxidative stress and modify the salivary function.
The major limitation to this study is that, under its current design, one cannot exclude the possibility that deafness itself, and not the lack of being exposed to mobile phones, was responsible for the observed reduced oxidative stress in the control group.

Study character:

Ghoneim FM et al. (2016): Histological and histochemical study of the protective role of rosemary extract against harmful effect of cell phone electromagnetic radiation on the parotid glands
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