Electromagnetic field effect or simply stress? Effects of UMTS exposure on hippocampal longterm plasticity in the context of procedure related hormone release.
Prochnow N, Gebing T, Ladage K, Krause-Finkeldey D, El Ouardi A, Bitz A, Streckert J, Hansen V, Dermietzel R. · 2011
View Original AbstractMale Wistar rats exposed to UMTS at 2 W/kg showed no difference in hippocampal LTP and LTD versus sham, while 10 W/kg significantly reduced both.
Plain English Summary
Researchers applied UMTS radio-frequency signals to male Wistar rats at whole-brain SAR levels of 0, 2, and 10 W/kg for 120 minutes. They measured stress hormones corticosterone and ACTH and recorded hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD). Cage exposure increased corticosterone and ACTH levels and was associated with generally decreased LTP and LTD. At 2 W/kg the rats showed no difference from sham in LTP and LTD, while at 10 W/kg a significant reduction in both was observed.
Why This Matters
The authors reported that a rate of 2 W/kg had no adverse impact on LTP and LTD, whereas 10 W/kg produced significant electrophysiological effects that were distinct from stress-related changes. They also stated that UMTS exposure at 2 W/kg is not harmful to key memory markers, but an effect at 10 W/kg cannot be ruled out.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 0, 2, and 10 W/kg
- Exposure Duration
- 120 min
Exposure Context
This study used 0, 2, and 10 W/kg for SAR (device absorption):
- 5x 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
In the present study we applied radio-frequency (RF) signals of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) to full brain exposed male Wistar rats in order to elaborate putative influences on stress hormone release (corticosteron; CORT and adrenocorticotropic hormone; ACTH) and on hippocampal derived synaptic long-term plasticity (LTP) and depression (LTD) as electrophysiological hallmarks for memory storage and memory consolidation.
Exposure was computer controlled providing blind conditions. Nominal brain-averaged specific absorpt...
Comparison of cage exposed animals revealed, regardless of EMF exposure, significantly increased COR...
Our findings suggest that UMTS exposure with SAR in the range of 2 W/kg is not harmful to critical markers for memory storage and memory consolidation, however, an influence of UMTS at high energy absorption rates (10 W/kg) cannot be excluded.
Show BibTeX
@article{n_2011_electromagnetic_field_effect_or_1276,
author = {Prochnow N and Gebing T and Ladage K and Krause-Finkeldey D and El Ouardi A and Bitz A and Streckert J and Hansen V and Dermietzel R.},
title = {Electromagnetic field effect or simply stress? Effects of UMTS exposure on hippocampal longterm plasticity in the context of procedure related hormone release.},
year = {2011},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0019437},
}