Effects of acute electromagnetic fields exposure on the interhemispheric homotopic functional connectivity during resting state.

Abstract

In this paper, we aimed to investigate the possible effects of acute radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) on the interhemispheric homotopic functional connectivity with resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique. We designed a controllable LTE-related EMF exposure environment at 2.573 GHz and performed the 30 min real/sham exposure experiments on human brain under the safety limits. The resting state fMRI signals were collected before and after EMF exposure. Then voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity method was utilized to evaluate the acute effects of LTE EMF exposure on the homotopic functional connectivity between two human hemispheres. Based on our previous research, we further demonstrated that the 30 min short-term LTE EMF exposure would modulate the interhemispheric homotopic functional connectivity in resting state around the medial frontal gyrus and the paracentral lobule during the real exposure.