Morphological and antioxidant impairments in the spinal cord of male offspring rats following exposure to a continuous 900-MHz electromagnetic field during early and mid-adolescence.
İkinci A, Mercantepe T, Unal D, Erol HS, Şahin A, Aslan A, Baş O, Erdem H, Sönmez OF, Kaya H, Odacı E. · 2015
View Original AbstractDaily cell phone frequency exposure during adolescence caused spinal cord damage and myelin breakdown in developing rats.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed young male rats to 900 MHz radiofrequency radiation (similar to cell phone frequencies) for one hour daily during adolescence and examined their spinal cords. They found significant damage including breakdown of the protective myelin sheaths around nerve fibers, increased oxidative stress markers, and structural abnormalities in nerve cells. This suggests that radiofrequency exposure during critical developmental periods may harm the developing nervous system.
Why This Matters
This study adds to growing evidence that radiofrequency radiation can damage the developing nervous system during critical growth periods. The researchers found clear structural damage to the spinal cord's myelin sheaths, which are essential for proper nerve signal transmission. What makes this particularly concerning is that the damage occurred from just one hour of daily exposure during adolescence, a time when the nervous system is still developing. The 900 MHz frequency used matches that of many cell phones and wireless devices that young people use regularly. While we can't directly extrapolate from rats to humans, this research reinforces the importance of minimizing EMF exposure for children and adolescents, whose developing nervous systems may be more vulnerable to these effects.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study. The study examined exposure from: 900 MHz Duration: 1 h
Study Details
The aim of this study was therefore to investigate changes in the spinal cords of male rat pups exposed to the effect of 900 MHz EMF
The study began with 24 Sprague-Dawley male rats aged 3 weeks. Three groups containing equal numbers...
Biochemistry results revealed significantly increased malondialdehyde and glutathione levels in EMFG...
The study results show that biochemical alterations and pathological changes may occur in the spinal cords of male rats following exposure to 900 MHz EMF for 1 h a day on PD 21–46.
Show BibTeX
@article{a_2015_morphological_and_antioxidant_impairments_1648,
author = {İkinci A and Mercantepe T and Unal D and Erol HS and Şahin A and Aslan A and Baş O and Erdem H and Sönmez OF and Kaya H and Odacı E.},
title = {Morphological and antioxidant impairments in the spinal cord of male offspring rats following exposure to a continuous 900-MHz electromagnetic field during early and mid-adolescence.},
year = {2015},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0891061815000964},
}