The Effect of Sub-chronic Whole-Body Exposure to a 1,950 MHz Electromagnetic Field on the Hippocampus in the Mouse Brain |
Yeonghoon Son1, Ye Ji Jeong1, Jong Hwa Kwon2, Hyung-Do Choi2, Jeong-Ki Pack3, Nam Kim4, Yun-Sil Lee5, Hae-June Lee1 |
1Division of Radiation Effects, Korea Institute of Radiological & Medical Sciences 2Department of EMF Research Team, Radio and Broadcasting Technology Laboratory, ETRI 3Department of Radio Sciences and Engineering, College of Engineering, Chungnam National University 4School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Chungbuk National University 5Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ewha Womans University |
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Abstract |
The increasing use of mobile phones has raised public concern about the possible biological effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposure on the human brain. To investigate the potential effect of RF-EMF exposure on the brain, we examined the behaviors and hippocampal morphology of C57BL/6 mice after sub-chronic exposure to RF-EMFs with a relatively high SAR level (5.0 W/kg). We applied a 2-hour daily exposure of WCDMA 1,950 MHz using a reverberation chamber that was designed for whole-body exposure for 60 days. In the behavioral tests, RF-EMF did not alter the physical activity or long-term memory of mice. Moreover, no alteration was found in the neuronal and glial cells in the hippocampus by RF-EMFs. In this study, we showed that sub-chronic whole body RF exposure did not produce memory impairment and hippocampal morphological alteration in C57BL/6 mice. |
Key words:
Hippocampus, Memory, Mobile Phone, Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Field, Sub-chronic Exposure |
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