Doubt cast on mobile-phone radiation as a cure

[John Harvey]

From Dementia News of 20 January 2010 (reproduced here by kind permission of the author):
Mobile phones and dementia
There has been considerable media attention given to a study that reports that

mice who were exposed over several months to an electromagnetic field enjoyed

both cognition-protective and cognition-enhancing effects from this exposure.

From this it has been postulated that mobile-phone use may be protective

against Alzheimer’s disease in humans. Perhaps, before reaching for our

mobiles to spread the good news, it would be wise to look at what the

researchers have said and about whom they have said it.
The research, which is in press in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, was

conducted by Dr Gary Arendash and colleagues from the Florida Alzheimer's

Disease Research Centre. The researchers experimented on 96 mice, most of

whom had been genetically impaired to develop an Alzheimer’s-like disease.

These mice were caged in a circle around an antenna that emitted

electromagnetic waves at 918 megaHertz with a specific energy-absorption rate

of 0.25 watts per kilogram of mouse. Each mouse was exposed to these

electromagnetic waves for an hour twice a day. Other genetically impaired mice

and normal mice were used as controls.
Testing after four months and seven months of exposure putatively showed that

whilst the unexposed genetically impaired mice were losing cognitive function,

the normal mice and the genetically impaired mice exposed to mobile-phone

radiation of greater than background intensity, were not.
The researchers also irradiated older genetically impaired mice, who had already

started to show signs of cognitive decline. After eight months of exposure, these

mice reportedly showed some cognitive-function recovery and, upon being killed

and autopsied, showed changes in their deposition of beta-amyloid (a protein

associated with Alzheimer’s disease) in the brain, including an increase in the

more soluble form of the protein (presumably over that in non-irradiated older

genetically impaired mice).
Dr Arendash and colleagues conclude that electromagnetic-field exposure may

represent a non-invasive, non-pharmacologic treatment for Alzheimer’s disease

and an effective memory-enhancing approach in general.
Keeping in mind that Alzheimer’s disease is a complicated condition with, as yet,

unknown causes and a very complex physiological profile, there are a number of

things to consider in relation to this research, beginning with the context of this

latest study by Dr Arendash and colleagues.
Dr Arendash has, along with various colleagues, a long-standing interest in

conducting experiments on mice genetically impaired to develop an Alzheimer’s-

like disease. In 2005, he and others published the results of experiments in

which genetically impaired mice raised in what the researchers deemed

environmentally enriching caging outperformed those in standard caging. They

concluded that “pharmacological agents designed to mimic environmental

enrichment-induced changes in gene expression may provide new approaches to

Alzheimer’s disease therapy/prevention”. 1.
In 2008, Dr Arendash and colleagues once again reported on the benefits of

environmental enrichment, this time in aged genetically impaired mice, stating

that such enrichment benefited the mice without affecting either brain or plasma

concentrations of beta-amyloid. They suggested that it followed that frequent

and long-term cognition stimulation/rehabilitation could lead to substantial

cognitive benefit for people with Alzheimer’s disease irrespective of their

concentration of brain beta-amyloid. 2.
Again in 2008, Dr Arendash and colleagues reported that mobilisation of bone-

marrow stem cells with granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor improves cognitive

performance in genetically impaired “Alzheimer’s” mice. 3.
Another publication from 2008 by Dr Arendash and colleagues reported that

genetically impaired mice given caffeine in their drinking water (equivalent to five

cups of coffee per day in humans) are protected from development of otherwise

certain cognitive impairment. The impaired mice given caffeine demonstrated

much better working memory than genetically impaired control mice; reversal of

cognitive impairment; and, according to the researchers, even reversal of

Alzheimer’s disease pathology, although it is of note that reversal is impossible to

see as mice cannot be revived after autopsy. Upon killing and autopsying the

mice, the researchers reported that even those mice who had had substantial

pre-existing beta-amyloid burden were found to have substantially less beta-

amyloid deposition in their hippocampi (parts of the brain that are often affected

early in Alzheimer’s disease), and correlatively less brain soluble-beta-amyloid

(presumably again, than their non-caffeinated impaired counterparts). 4.
In view of their findings, Dr Arendash and colleagues suggested that caffeine has

treatment potential in cases of established Alzheimer’s disease.
Returning to electromagnetic waves and Alzheimer’s disease. Despite the

genetic relatedness of mice and men, mice who are genetically impaired to

develop a disease that has some pathologies similar to those seen in humans

with Alzheimer’s disease are not a mirror of the human condition. In fact, in

some cases, the pathophysiology underlying certain human diseases works in

reverse when superficially similar diseases are induced in genetically impaired

mice. As with Dr Arendash 's previous work, the significance of this latest study

needs assessment in light of the possible irrelevance of inducing genetic

impairment to give rise in mice to a disease state that may be only superficially

similar to Alzheimer's disease (NB: we have not yet identified the exact

pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease) and the danger of unwisely

extrapolating findings in one species to another.
Indeed, simple common sense might lead us to reflect on a fairly straightforward

observation: that both the use of mobile phones and the incidence of Alzheimer’s

disease are on the rise. The irrelevance of one to the other may explain perfectly

why mobile phone use and coffee-drinking appear to be doing little if anything to

stem the onrushing tide.
Reference: Arendash GW, Sanchez-Ramos J, Mori T, Mamcarz M, Lin X,

Runfeldt M, Wang L, Zhang G, Sava V, Tan J, Cao C (2010). Electromagnetic

field treatment protects against and reverses cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's

disease mice. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease 19; 191–210. In press.
Link: http://www.j-alz.com/issues/19/vol19-1.html
1.

Reference: Potter H, Costa DA, Cracciola JR, Hughes T and Arendash GW (2005).

Environmental enrichment prevents cognitive decline and induces memory-related gene

expression in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Alzheimer and Dementia

Volume 1, Issue 1.

Link: http://www.alzheimersanddementia.com/ar ... 4/abstract
2.

Reference: Arendash GW, Mamcarz M, Dickson A, Wang L, Xiaoyang, Cao C, Potter H (2008).

Environmental enrichment “sessions” are sufficient to provide cognitive benefit to impaired

Alzheimer's transgenic mice without affecting brain or plasma Aβ levels. Journal of Alzheimer

and Dementia Volume 4, Issue 4.

Link: http://www.alzheimersanddementia.com/ar ... 5/abstract
3.

Reference: J. Sanchez-Ramos, S. Song, C. Cao, X. Lin, T. Mori, G. Arendash (2008).

Granulocyte-colony simulating factor reduces hippocampal amyloid load and improves behavioral

performance in a transgenic Alzheimer's disease mouse model. Journal of Alzheimer and

Dementia Volume 4, Issue 4.

Link: http://www.alzheimersanddementia.com/ar ... X/abstract
4.

Reference: Arendash GW, Mori T, Cao C, Mamcarz M, Runfeldt M, Dickson A, Rezai-Zadeh

K, Tan J, Citron BA, Lin X, Echeverria V, Potter H (2008). Caffeine reverses cognitive

impairment, decreases β-amyloid levels, and reduces inflammation in aged Alzheimer's mice:

Implications for Alzheimer's treatment. Journal of Alzheimer and Dementia Volume 4, Issue 4.

Link: http://www.alzheimersanddementia.com/ar ... 9/abstract
Dementia News is published by Alzheimer's Australia, and subscription is freely available electronically by writing to Alzheimer's Australia's scientific research officer, Michele Hawkins, at >.

Cheers --

John
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-- Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, 10 December 2009