BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER DYSFUNCTION IN WISTAR RATS EXPOSED TO MULTI-TRANSCEIVER MOBILE RADIOFREQUENCY, SOUND, AND VIBRATIONS

Abstract

This study looked at the functional changes in the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in Wistar rats after exposure to electromagnetic field, vibration, and ringtone from a multi-transceiver mobile phone. Twenty-five (25) male Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups (n=5). For six weeks, group A (control) and test groups were exposed to mobile phone electromagnetic field through a 10-minute calls/day from a Tecno 900/1800 MHz in various modalities. Viz: groups B – E in silent-only, vibration only, ringtone-only and ringtone with vibration, respectively. BBB in various regions of the brain using evans blue dye tracer technique and brain TNF-α was studied at the end of the sixth week of exposure. There were significant (α0.05) decrease in BBB in the cerebellum, cerebrum, and the two hemispheres of the brain and insignificant increases in the levels of brain TNF across all groups of animals exposed to phones in various modalities. These findings suggest that exposure to electromagnetic fields, vibration, and sound from multi-transceiver phones may be a risk factor for loss of BBB integrity.