Cognitive impairment in rats after long-term exposure to GSM-900 mobile phone radiation.

Bioeffects Seen

Nittby H, Grafström G, Tian DP, Malmgren L, Brun A, Persson BR, Salford LG, Eberhardt J · 2008

GSM-exposed rats had impaired memory for objects and their temporal order of presentation compared to sham-exposed controls.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers exposed rats to GSM-900 mobile phone radiation for 2 hours each week for 55 weeks at SAR levels of 0.6 and 60 mW/kg, then compared them to sham-exposed controls. GSM-exposed rats had impaired memory for objects and their temporal order of presentation compared to sham-exposed controls (P = 0.02). Detecting the place in which an object was presented was not affected by GSM exposure, and no difference in exploratory behaviour was seen in the open-field test.

Why This Matters

The study used a rat model to investigate long-term effects of GSM-900 radiation, with cognitive functions evaluated in an episodic-like memory test. Out of 56 total rats, 32 were exposed, 16 were sham-exposed, and 8 were cage controls that never left the animal house. The researchers suggest their results indicate significantly reduced memory functions in rats after GSM microwave exposure.

Exposure Details

SAR: 0.0006 and 0.06 W/kg
Power Density: 0.0033 and 0.00033 mW/cm²
Source/Device: GSM‐900
Exposure Duration: 2 hr/wk, 55 wk

Exposure Context

This study used 0.0033 and 0.00033 mW/cm² for radio frequency:

33Kx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.1 μW/m²
550x above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 0.0006 μW/cm²

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

In this study we investigated in a rat model the long-term effects of protracted exposure to Global System for Mobile Communication-900 MHz (GSM-900) radiation.

Out of a total of 56 rats, 32 were exposed for 2 h each week for 55 weeks to radio-frequency electro...

In our study, GSM exposed rats had impaired memory for objects and their temporal order of presentat...

Our results suggest significantly reduced memory functions in rats after GSM microwave exposure.

Cite This Study

Nittby H, Grafström G, Tian DP, Malmgren L, Brun A, Persson BR, Salford LG, Eberhardt J (2008). Cognitive impairment in rats after long-term exposure to GSM-900 mobile phone radiation. Bioelectromagnetics. 29(3):219-232, 2008.

Show BibTeX

@article{h_2008_cognitive_impairment_in_rats_158,
  author = {Nittby H and Grafström G and Tian DP and Malmgren L and Brun A and Persson BR and Salford LG and Eberhardt J},
  title = {Cognitive impairment in rats after long-term exposure to GSM-900 mobile phone radiation.},
  year = {2008},
  doi = {10.1002/bem.20386},
  url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/bem.20386},
}

DOI: 10.1002/bem.20386