Effects of mobile phone radiation (900 MHz radiofrequency) on structure and functions of rat brain
Saikhedkar N, Bhatnagar M, Jain A, Sukhwal P, Sharma C, Jaiswal N · 2014
View Original AbstractThis study found that cell phone radiation damaged memory centers in young rat brains after just 15 days of exposure.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed young rats to 900 MHz cell phone radiation for 4 hours daily over 15 days to study brain effects. The exposed rats showed increased anxiety, poor learning and memory, damaged brain cells in key memory regions, and signs of cellular stress from harmful molecules called free radicals. This suggests that prolonged cell phone radiation exposure may damage the brain areas responsible for learning and memory.
Why This Matters
This study adds to a growing body of evidence linking radiofrequency radiation to neurological harm, particularly in developing brains. The 900 MHz frequency used here is identical to older GSM cell phone networks, making these findings directly relevant to human exposure. What's particularly concerning is that the rats were only 30 days old when exposure began, equivalent to children or teenagers in human development. The researchers found damage in the hippocampus, the brain's memory center, along with increased oxidative stress - a cellular damage pathway that appears consistently across EMF studies. While we can't directly extrapolate animal studies to humans, the specific brain regions affected and the biochemical pathways involved are remarkably similar between rats and humans, lending credibility to these findings.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study. The study examined exposure from: 900 MHz Duration: 4 hours per day for 15 days
Study Details
The goals of this study were: (1) to obtain basic information about the effects of long-term use of mobile phones on cytological makeup of the hippocampus in rat brains (2) to evaluate the effects on antioxidant status, and (3) to evaluate the effects on cognitive behavior particularly on learning and memory.
Rats (age 30 days, 120 ± 5 g) were exposed to 900 MHz radio waves by means of a mobile hand set for ...
A significant change in behavior, i.e., more anxiety and poor learning was shown by test animals as ...
Thus our findings indicate extensive neurodegeneration on exposure to radio waves. Increased production of reactive oxygen species due to exhaustion of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants and increased lipid peroxidation are indicating extensive neurodegeneration in selective areas of CA1, CA3, DG, and cerebral cortex. This extensive neuronal damage results in alterations in behavior related to memory and learning
Show BibTeX
@article{n_2014_effects_of_mobile_phone_1529,
author = {Saikhedkar N and Bhatnagar M and Jain A and Sukhwal P and Sharma C and Jaiswal N},
title = {Effects of mobile phone radiation (900 MHz radiofrequency) on structure and functions of rat brain},
year = {2014},
doi = {10.1179/1743132814Y.0000000392},
url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/1743132814Y.0000000392},
}