Exposure to 900 MHz electromagnetic fields activates the mkp-1/ERK pathway and causes blood-brain barrier damage and cognitive impairment in rats.
Tang J, Zhang Y, Yang L, Chen Q, Tan L, Zuo S, Feng H, Chen Z, Zhu G. · 2015
View Original AbstractRats exposed to 900 MHz electromagnetic fields for 28 days showed spatial memory impairment and blood-brain barrier damage, associated with activation of the mkp-1/ERK pathway.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed 108 male Sprague-Dawley rats to a 900 MHz, 1 mW/cm2 electromagnetic field for 14 or 28 days at 3 hours per day, with some rats left unexposed as a sham group. Rats exposed for 28 days crossed platforms less often and spent less time in the target quadrant than rats exposed for 14 days and unexposed rats. Twenty-eight days of exposure was also associated with cellular edema, neuronal cell organelle degeneration, and albumin and HO-1 extravasation in the hippocampus and cortex. The researchers found that 28 days of EMF exposure induced the expression of mkp-1, resulting in ERK dephosphorylation.
Why This Matters
The specific energy absorption rate varied between 0.016 W/kg for the whole body and 2 W/kg locally in the head. Spatial memory was assessed using the Morris water maze test, which measured how often rats crossed the platform location and how much time they spent in the target area of the pool. Blood-brain barrier damage was assessed with the Evans Blue assay, while immunostaining was used to detect HO-1-positive neurons and albumin extravasation. The authors described the blood-brain barrier and cognitive findings in rats exposed to 900 MHz EMF as being reported for the first time in this study.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 0.016, 2 W/kg
- Power Density
- 1 mW/cm²
- Source/Device
- 900 MHz
- Exposure Duration
- 3 h/day for 14 or 28 days
Exposure Context
This study used 1 mW/cm² for radio frequency:
- 100Mx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.1 μW/m²
- 1.7Mx 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
This study demonstrated, for the first time, the blood-brain barrier and cognitive changes in rats exposed to 900 MHz electromagnetic field (EMF) and aims to elucidate the potential molecular pathway underlying these changes.
A total of 108 male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to a 900 MHz, 1 mW/cm2 EMF or sham (unexposed) ...
We found that the frequency of crossing platforms and the percentage of time spent in the target qua...
Taken together, these results demonstrated that exposure to 900 MHz EMF radiation for 28 days can significantly impair spatial memory and damage BBB permeability in rat by activating the mkp-1/ERK pathway.
Show BibTeX
@article{j_2015_exposure_to_900_mhz_192,
author = {Tang J and Zhang Y and Yang L and Chen Q and Tan L and Zuo S and Feng H and Chen Z and Zhu G.},
title = {Exposure to 900 MHz electromagnetic fields activates the mkp-1/ERK pathway and causes blood-brain barrier damage and cognitive impairment in rats.},
year = {2015},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S000689931500030X},
}