Effect of whole-body exposure to the 848.5 MHz code division multiple access (CDMA) electromagnetic field on adult neurogenesis in the young, healthy rat brain

Abstract

Introduction: Whether exposure to the 848.5 MHz code division multiple access (CDMA) signal affects adult neurogenesis is unclear.

Materials and methods: An animal experiment was performed with a reverberation chamber designed as a whole-body CDMA exposure system. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to three groups (n = 6 per group): Cage-control, sham-exposed, and CDMA-exposed groups. Rats in the CDMA-exposed group were exposed to the CDMA signal at a 2 W/kg whole-body specific absorption rate (SAR) for 1 or 8 h daily, 5 days per week, for 2 weeks. Rats received a single intraperitoneal injection of Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) to label proliferative cells daily for the last five consecutive days of CDMA signal exposure. An unbiased stereological method was used to estimate the number of BrdU⁺ cells in the subventricular zone (SVZ) and dentate gyrus (DG).

Results: We found no significant changes in the number of BrdU⁺ cells in the SVZ or DG in the CDMA-exposed rats, compared with rats in the cage-control and sham-exposed groups (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: Our results suggest that exposure to the CDMA signal does not affect neurogenesis in the adult rat brain, at least under our experimental conditions.

Keywords::

• Radio waves
• cell proliferation
• bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU)
• subventricular zone
• dentate gyrus
• neurogenesis
• rats

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

This work was supported by ICT R&D program of MSIP/IITP [13-911-01-105, A Study on Health Effects and Protection of EMF].