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. 2012 Jul 5;7(19):1488-92.
doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2012.19.007.

916 MHz electromagnetic field exposure affects rat behavior and hippocampal neuronal discharge

Dongmei Hao  1 , Lei Yang  1 , Su Chen  2 , Yonghao Tian  2 , Shuicai Wu  1
Affiliations

916 MHz electromagnetic field exposure affects rat behavior and hippocampal neuronal discharge

Dongmei Hao et al. Neural Regen Res. .

Abstract

Wistar rats were exposed to a 916 MHz, 10 W/m(2) mobile phone electromagnetic field for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. Average completion times in an eight-arm radial maze were longer in the exposed rats than control rats after 4-5 weeks of exposure. Error rates in the exposed rats were greater than the control rats at 6 weeks. Hippocampal neurons from the exposed rats showed irregular firing patterns during the experiment, and they exhibited decreased spiking activity 6-9 weeks compared with that after 2-5 weeks of exposure. These results indicate that 916 MHz electromagnetic fields influence learning and memory in rats during exposure, but long-term effects are not obvious.

Keywords: Wistar rats; electromagnetic field; feeding behavior; maze learning; neural regeneration; neurons.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Completion times (A) and error rates (B) of control rats and exposed rats in an eight-arm radial maze experiment. The data are expressed as mean ± SEM of five rats in each group, and are analyzed using an analysis of independent samples t-test. aP < 0.05, vs. control rats.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Average discharge number per second in hippocampal neurons across the 9 weeks of electromagnetic field exposure. The data are expressed as mean ± SEM of 12 neurons at each time point, and are analyzed using a repeated-measures analysis of variance. aP < 0.05, vs. that at 2–5 weeks.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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