Nonthermal Effects of Lifelong High-Frequency Electromagnetic Field Exposure on Social Memory Performance in Rats.
Schneider J, Stangassinger M · 2014
View Original AbstractGSM-exposed male rats showed a memory performance deficit at 6 months of age, while EMF-exposed females showed no differences compared with controls.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed male and female rats continuously to either 900-MHz GSM or 1.966-GHz UMTS electromagnetic fields at 0.4 W/kg. Memory was assessed using a social discrimination procedure, with differences in sniffing duration to familiar and novel juvenile rats used as the measure. EMF-exposed females showed no differences in sniffing duration compared with controls, but sniffing durations of EMF-exposed males at 3 months of age were significantly affected. At 6 months of age, GSM-exposed male adults showed a memory performance deficit, but UMTS-exposed males did not.
Why This Matters
The study used a social discrimination procedure in which a target juvenile male was introduced to the subject's home cage for 4 min, and after 30 min the same animal and a novel juvenile male were simultaneously presented for 4 min. Differences in sniffing duration to the familiar and novel target rats during Trial 2 were used to assess memory performance. The researchers stated that their findings provide new insight into the nonthermal effects of long-term high-frequency EMF exposure on memory.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 0.4 W/kg
- Source/Device
- 900-MHz GSM and 1.966-GHz UMTS
- Exposure Duration
- Life-long up to 6 months
Where This Falls on the Concern Scale
Study Details
In the present study, male and female rats were subjected to continuous far-field exposure to a frequency of 900-MHz (Global System for Mobile Communications [GSM]) or 1.966-GHz (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System [UMTS]) at 0.4 W/kg.
Memory performance of adult EMF-exposed and sham-exposed female rats (at 6 months of age) and male r...
EMF-exposed females exhibited no differences in sniffing duration compared with controls. In contras...
These findings provide new insight into the nonthermal effects of long-term high-frequency EMF exposure on memory
Show BibTeX
@article{j_2014_nonthermal_effects_of_lifelong_180,
author = {Schneider J and Stangassinger M},
title = {Nonthermal Effects of Lifelong High-Frequency Electromagnetic Field Exposure on Social Memory Performance in Rats.},
year = {2014},
url = {https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-27551-001},
}