Effect of Whole-Body Exposure to High-Frequency Electromagnetic Field on the Brain Cortical and Hippocampal Activity in Mouse Experimental Model

Abstract

Evaluation of the direct registration of brain cortical and hippocampal activity during a high-frequency electromagnetic field (HF-EMF) exposure was performed. Experimental procedures were done under general anesthesia (urethane, 20%, 2g/kg i.p.) in Lurcher mutant mice, wild type (healthy littermates) were used as controls. Animals were exposed to the HF-EMF with frequency corresponding to cellular phones (900 MHz). We used of gel electrodes (silicon tubes or glass microcapillary filled with agar) where the connection with classical electrodes was located out of HF-EMF space. ECoG evaluation showed a distinct shift to lower frequency components but clear effect has been observed only in wild type (healthy) mice whereas in Lurcher mutant mice only gentle differences between frequency spectra were found. Measurement of hippocampal rhythmicity showed gentle changes with increase of higher frequencies (i.e. opposite effect than in cortex) and changes in theta oscillations registered from a dentate gyrus and CA1 area in both types of animals (healthy and mutant). These findings support an idea about possible influencing the central nervous system by HF-EMF exposure and support also some recent results about possible health risks resulting from cellular phones use.