6,486 Studies Reviewed. 85.2% of Original Studies Found Biological Effects. The Evidence is Clear.
Shield Your Body
Brain & Nervous SystemPart of the Glaser Archive

ELIMINATION OF MICROWAVE EFFECTS ON THE VITALITY OF NERVES AFTER ACTIVE TRANSPORT HAS BEEN BLOCKED

Bioeffects Seen

Authors not listed

Share:

Blocking the Na-K pump with ouabain eliminated the microwave effect on frog sciatic nerve survival time.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers exposed paired frog sciatic nerves treated with ouabain to microwaves at a specific absorption rate of 10 W/kg while stimulating at 50 pulse pairs per second. At 50 ppps, ouabain reduced the half-decay time from about two hours to under 30 minutes, and microwave exposure caused no significant further shortening. At a lower stimulation rate of 5 ppps, half-decay times returned to near two hours and again showed no significant difference between exposed and unexposed nerves. The authors suggested that microwave effects on nerve vitality are associated with decay of ionic gradients normally maintained by active transport.

Why This Matters

Control experiments without microwave exposure showed that paired nerves had half-decay times within 15 percent of each other. Nerve temperature was maintained at 24 degrees Celsius plus or minus 0.05 degrees throughout each experiment. The researchers speculated that microwaves might directly interfere with the Na-K ATPase enzyme. They also speculated that microwaves could overburden the pump by causing extra sodium influx and potassium efflux. The authors noted that further experimental work is needed to substantiate these speculations.

Exposure Details

SAR
10 W/kg
Exposure Duration
Not specified

Exposure Context

This study used 10 W/kg for SAR (device absorption):

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 Exposure Level in ContextStudy Exposure Level in ContextThis study: 10 W/kgExtreme Concern - 0.1 W/kgFCC Limit - 1.6 W/kgEffects observed in the Extreme Concern range (Building Biology)This level is 6 times the FCC limit
A logarithmic frequency spectrum from 10 Hz to 100 GHz showing where this study's 2.45 GHz exposure sits relative to common EMF sources.Where This Frequency Sits on the EMF SpectrumELFVLFLF / MFHF / VHFUHFSHFmm10 Hz100 GHzThis study: 2.45 GHzPower lines50/60 Hz5G mm28 GHzLogarithmic scale
Cite This Study
Unknown (n.d.). ELIMINATION OF MICROWAVE EFFECTS ON THE VITALITY OF NERVES AFTER ACTIVE TRANSPORT HAS BEEN BLOCKED.
Show BibTeX
@article{elimination_of_microwave_effects_on_the_vitality_of_nerves_after_active_transpor_g5368,
  author = {Unknown},
  title = {ELIMINATION OF MICROWAVE EFFECTS ON THE VITALITY OF NERVES AFTER ACTIVE TRANSPORT HAS BEEN BLOCKED},
  year = {n.d.},
  
  
}
No DOI on file for this study.

Quick Questions About This Study

The main experiments exposed ouabain-treated nerves to microwaves at a specific absorption rate of 10 W/kg.
In three control experiments with no microwave exposure, the half-decay times of the paired nerves were within 15 percent of each other.
Ouabain reduced the half-decay time of compound action potentials from an average of nearly two hours in untreated nerves to less than 30 minutes.
At 5 ppps, half-decay times in ouabain-treated nerves returned to about two hours, and microwave exposure still produced no significant difference between exposed and unexposed nerves.
The authors speculate that microwaves may directly interfere with the Na-K ATPase enzyme or overburden the pump by causing additional sodium influx and potassium efflux.