Whole body exposure with GSM 900 MHz affects spatial memory in mice
Fragopoulou AF, Miltiadous P, Stamatakis A, Stylianopoulou F, Koussoulakos SL, Margaritis LH · 2010
View Original AbstractCell phone radiation impaired spatial memory in mice at exposure levels similar to typical phone use after just four days.
Plain English Summary
Greek researchers exposed mice to cell phone radiation (900 MHz) for 2 hours daily over 4 days. The exposed mice showed significant deficits in learning and remembering spatial information compared to unexposed mice, suggesting cell phone radiation may impair brain memory functions.
Why This Matters
This study provides compelling evidence that cell phone radiation can directly impair cognitive function, specifically the type of spatial memory processing that occurs in the hippocampus. The SAR levels used (0.41 to 0.98 W/kg) are well within the range of typical cell phone emissions, making these findings directly relevant to human exposure. What makes this research particularly significant is that it demonstrates measurable cognitive effects after just 4 days of 2-hour exposures, a relatively brief exposure period compared to the years of daily use most people accumulate. The fact that the mice showed both learning deficits and memory consolidation problems suggests the radiation may be interfering with fundamental brain processes. While we can't directly extrapolate from mouse studies to humans, this research adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that the electromagnetic fields from wireless devices may affect brain function in ways we're only beginning to understand.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 0.41 to 0.98 W/kg
- Power Density
- 0.05 and 0.2 µW/m²
- Electric Field
- 23 and 36 V/m
- Source/Device
- 900 MHz GSM mobile phone
- Exposure Duration
- 2 h daily for 4 days
Exposure Context
This study used 0.05 and 0.2 µW/m² for radio frequency:
- 5Mx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.1 μW/m²
- 83.3Kx above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 0.0006 μW/cm²
This study used 23 and 36 V/m for electric fields:
- 76.7x above the Building Biology guideline of 0.3 V/m
This study used 0.41 to 0.98 W/kg for SAR (device absorption):
- 1x above the Building Biology guideline of 0.4 W/kg
Building Biology guidelines are practitioner-based limits from real-world assessments. BioInitiative Report recommendations are based on peer-reviewed science. Check Your Exposure to compare your own measurements.
Where This Falls on the Concern Scale
Study Details
The present work has been designed in order to test the effects of mobile phone radiation on spatial learning and memory in mice Mus musculus Balb/c using the Morris water maze (a hippocampal-dependent spatial memory task), since there is just one other study on mice with very low SAR level (0.05 W/kg) showing no effects.
We have applied a 2 h daily dose of pulsed GSM 900 MHz radiation from commercially available mobile ...
Statistical analysis revealed that during learning, exposed animals showed a deficit in transferring...
Our results provide a basis for more thorough investigations considering reports on non-thermal effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs).
Show BibTeX
@article{af_2010_whole_body_exposure_with_99,
author = {Fragopoulou AF and Miltiadous P and Stamatakis A and Stylianopoulou F and Koussoulakos SL and Margaritis LH},
title = {Whole body exposure with GSM 900 MHz affects spatial memory in mice},
year = {2010},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0928468009001217},
}