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. 2021 Feb;28(5):5755-5773.
doi: 10.1007/s11356-020-10728-w. Epub 2020 Sep 25.

Functional and network analyses of human exposure to long-term evolution signal

Lei Yang  1 , Chen Zhang  1 , Zhiye Chen  2 , Congsheng Li  1 , Tongning Wu  3
Affiliations

Functional and network analyses of human exposure to long-term evolution signal

Lei Yang et al. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Feb.

Abstract

Human exposure to the electromagnetic field emitted by wireless communication systems has raised public concerns. There were claims of the potential association of some neurophysiological disorders with the exposure, but the mechanism is yet to be established. The wireless networks, recently, experience a transition from the 4th generation (4G) to 5th generation (5G), while 4G long-term evolution (LTE) is still the frequently used signal in wireless communication. In the study, exposure experiments were conducted using the LTE signal. The subjects were divided into sham and real exposure groups. Before and after the exposure experiments, they underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging. Within-session and between-session comparisons have been executed for functional connectivity and network properties. Individual specific absorption rate (SAR) was also calculated. The results indicated that acute LTE exposure beneath the safety limits modulated both the functional connection and graph-based properties. To characterize the effect of functional activity, SAR averaged over a certain tissue mass was not an appropriate metric. The potential neurophysiological effect of 5G exposure has also been discussed in the study.

Keywords: Brain network; Electromagnetic hypersensitivity; Functional connectivity; Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); Long-term evolution; Safety limits; Specific absorption rate (SAR).

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