Background: Reproductive effects of electromagnetic radiation is still not clear. This study investigated the difference of damaging effects of EMP (electromagnetic pulse), S-HPM (S-band high power microwave) and X-HPM (X-band high power microwave) on the primary cultured sertoli cells of rats. Methods: Primary sertoli cells were isolated from 3 weeks old Wistar rats, and exposed to EMP (6×104V/m), S-HPM (100 mW/cm2) and X-HPM (100 mW/cm2) for 4min respectively. Light microscope and electron microscope were used to observe the pathological and ultrastructural changes. Flow cytometry was used to examine cell apoptosis. MTT test was performed to assess the general metabolic activity of sertoli cells. Results: After three kinds of electromagnetic radiation, denaturalization and death of cultured sertoli cells occurred. The numbers of damaged cells in the radiation groups were obviously more than control group, especially for EMP group. During 1h~24h after radiation, the percentages of apoptosis and death increased significantly in both EMP and S-HPM groups. MTT results showed the OD value of EMP group decreased significantly during 6h~48h after radiation. Conclusion: EMP, S-HPM and X-HPM, all the three bands of electromagnetic radiation could induce injury of sertoli cells with different degree. The damaging effects included the increase of cell denaturalization, apoptosis and death, and the decrease of cell proliferation activity. The degree of injury effects varied according to different bands of electromagnetic radiation, which showed as EMP>X-HPM>S-HPM.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81302397)