Background: Mobile phones, use electromagnetic
radiation in the microwave range. On the other
hand, there is only one report on radioprotective
effects of flaxseed oil. The aim of this study was to
investigate the effect of irradiation of rats with microwaves
and/or treatment with flaxseed oil on the
induction of adaptive response to a subsequent lethal
dose (LD) of gamma rays. Materials and Methods:
Eighty male rats were randomly divided into 6 groups
of 13-15 animals. The animals in the 1st to 5th groups
received microwave exposure, microwave+flaxseed
oil (dissolved in olive oil), flaxseed (continued after
LD), flaxseed, and olive oil. At day 5, all animals were
whole-body irradiated with a previously reported LD
50/30 of 8 Gy gamma radiation. The 6th group
(controls) received the same LD 50/30, but there was
not any other treatment before or after the LD.
Results: No death event was observed during days 1-
9 after LD irradiation in either group. At day 10,
death events started in the 4th group. Thirty days after
irradiation of the animals, the survival fractions for
the control group, as expected, was 53.3% while
there was no death event in the 1st group (survival
rate of 100% in microwave-pretreated animals). The
survival fractions for the 2nd to 5th groups were
69.2%, 92.3%, 46.1%, and 61.5%, respectively.
Conclusion: While these findings open new horizons
in radiation protection, the radioresistance induced
by microwave radiations emitted by a mobile phone
may interfere with the outcome of any subsequent
therapeutic application of photons or radioisotopes.
کلید واژگان :
Microwave, adaptive response, nonionizing radiation, survival, rat
