The Effects of Prenatal Exposure to a 900 Megahertz Electromagnetic Field on Hippocampus Morphology and Learning Behavior in Rat Pups.
İkinci A, Odacı E, Yıldırım M, Kaya H, Akça M, Hancı H, Aslan A, Sönmez OF, Baş O · 2013
View Original AbstractPrenatal cell phone frequency EMF exposure impaired learning ability and damaged brain tissue in rat offspring.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed pregnant rats to 900 MHz electromagnetic fields (the same frequency used by many cell phones) for one hour daily during late pregnancy, then tested the learning abilities of their female offspring. The exposed pups showed significantly impaired learning and memory performance on standard tests, along with visible damage to brain tissue in the hippocampus, a region critical for learning and memory.
Why This Matters
This study adds to mounting evidence that EMF exposure during critical developmental windows can have lasting neurological consequences. The 900 MHz frequency used here is identical to what many GSM cell phones emit, making these findings directly relevant to human exposure scenarios. What makes this research particularly concerning is that the damage occurred from prenatal exposure alone - the developing brain appears especially vulnerable to EMF effects. The fact that researchers found both behavioral deficits and actual tissue damage in the hippocampus strengthens the biological plausibility of EMF-induced cognitive effects. While we can't directly extrapolate from rats to humans, the consistent pattern of learning and memory impairments across multiple EMF studies suggests this isn't a coincidental finding.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study. The study examined exposure from: 900 MHz Duration: continuous for 1 h/day from day 13 to 21 of pregnancy
Study Details
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect on hippocampus morphology and learning behavior in rat pups following prenatal exposure to a 900 megahertz (MHz) electromagnetic field (EMF)
Female Sprague Dawley rats weighing 180-250 g were left to mate with males. The following day, pregn...
Our results show that the application of a 900 MHz EMF in the prenatal period adversely affected female pups’ learning behavior and also resulted in histopathological changes appearing in the hippocampus.
Show BibTeX
@article{a_2013_the_effects_of_prenatal_1499,
author = {İkinci A and Odacı E and Yıldırım M and Kaya H and Akça M and Hancı H and Aslan A and Sönmez OF and Baş O},
title = {The Effects of Prenatal Exposure to a 900 Megahertz Electromagnetic Field on Hippocampus Morphology and Learning Behavior in Rat Pups.},
year = {2013},
url = {https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315135914},
}