Abstract
Introduction
The world is experiencing exponential growth in communication, especially wireless communication. Wireless connectivity has recently become a part of everyone’s daily life. Recent developments in low-cost, low-power, and miniature devices contribute to a significant rise in radiofrequency-electromagnetic field (RF-EM) radiation exposure in our environment, raising concern over its effect on biological systems. The inconsistent and conflicting research results make it difficult to draw definite conclusions about how RF-EM radiation affects living things.
Objectives
This study identified two micro-environments based on their level of exposure to cellular RF-EM radiation, one with significantly less exposure and another with very high exposure to RF-EM radiation. Emphasis is given to studying the metabolites in the urine samples of humans naturally exposed to these two different microenvironments to understand short-term metabolic dysregulations.
Methods
Untargeted 1H NMR spectroscopy was employed for metabolomics analyses to identify dysregulated metabolites. A total of 60 subjects were recruited with 5 ml urine samples each. These subjects were divided into two groups: one highly exposed to RF-EM (n = 30) and the other consisting of low-exposure populations (n = 30).
Results
The study found that the twenty-nine metabolites were dysregulated. Among them, 19 were downregulated, and 10 were upregulated. In particular, Glyoxylate and dicarboxylate and the TCA cycle metabolism pathway have been perturbed. The dysregulated metabolites were validated using the ROC curve analysis.
Conclusion
Untargeted urine metabolomics was conducted to identify dysregulated metabolites linked to RF-EM radiation exposure. Preliminary findings suggest a connection between oxidative stress and gut microbiota imbalance. However, further research is needed to validate these biomarkers and understand the effects of RF-EM radiation on human health. Further research is needed with a diverse population.
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Data availability
Raw and processed NMR datasets (time domain data and FT transform processed data) from this study can be retrieved from the online repository at the Indian Metabolome Data Archive (IMDA) of Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC) with IMDA Project id: IMP_100010. https://ibdc.rcb.res.in/imda/.
Software availability
Metaboanalyst (https://www.metaboanalyst.ca/), Chenomx evaluation tool (https://www.chenomx.com/), and SPSS tool (https://www.ibm.com/products/spss-statistics) were used in this study.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the ICGEB New Delhi core funds and Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, and for the NMR facility at ICGEB, New Delhi, India. AKM is supported by Junior Research Fellowship from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India
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NMR—Designed, performed experiments, reviewed, wrote, and refined the manuscript. AM—performed experiments, analyzed, reviewed, and wrote the manuscript. NK—Collected & Prepared samples for experiments. Analysed and reviewed the manuscript. SK—Analysed, reviewed, and refined the manuscript. All authors have given consent and approved the final version of the article.
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Neel Mani Rangesh works with O/o the CGMT, Bihar Telecom Circle, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), A Government of India Telecommunication Enterprise. Other authors declare no conflict of interest.
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The Institute Ethical Committees (IEC) of Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), Patna, reviewed and approved the study vide approval numbers 1145/IEC /IGIMS/2019/16.10.2019. Written and signed informed consent were sought and obtained from all participants. Before obtaining consent, the Patient’s Information Sheet (PIS) and Patient’s Informed Consent Form (PICF) were explained to the patients and attendants in multilingual English and Hindi.
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Rangesh, N.M., Malaisamy, A.K., Kumar, N. et al. Analysis of the metabolic profile of humans naturally exposed to RF-EM radiation. Metabolomics 20, 55 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-024-02121-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-024-02121-2