Effect of mobile telephony on blood-brain barrier permeability in the fetal mouse brain

Abstract

To study the effect of mobile telephone exposure on blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability in the immature brain. Using a purpose-designed exposure system at 900 MHz, pregnant mice were given a single, far-field, whole body exposure at a specific absorption rate of 4 W/kg for 60 min/day from day 1 to day 19 of gestation. Pregnant control mice were sham-exposed or freely mobile in a cage without further restraint and a positive control group with cadmium-induced BBB damage was also included. Immediately prior to parturition on gestational day 19, fetal heads were collected, fixed in Bouin's fixative and paraffin embedded. Disruption of BBB integrity was detected immunohistochemically using endogenous albumin as a vascular tracer in cerebral cortex, thalamus, basal ganglia, hippocampus, cerebellum, midbrain and medulla. No albumin extravasation was found in exposed or control brains. In this animal model, whole of gestation exposure to global system for mobile communication-like radiofrequency fields did not produce any increase in vascular permeability in the fetal brain regions studied using endogenous albumin as a light microscopic immunohistochemical marker.