Blood-brain barrier permeability in rats exposed to electromagnetic fields used in wireless communication

Biological effects of radio frequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) on the blood-brain barrier (BBB) have been studied in Fischer 344 rats of both sexes. The rats were not anaesthetised during the exposure. All animals were sacrificed by perfusion-fixation of the brains under chloralhydrate anaesthesia after the exposure. The brains were perfused with saline for 3-4 minutes, and thereafter perfusion fixed with 4% formaldehyde for 5-6 minutes. Whole coronal sections of the brains were dehydrated and embedded in paraffin and sectioned at 5 mu m. Albumin and fibrinogen were demonstrated immunohistochemically and classified as normal versus pathological leakage. In the present investigation we exposed male and female Fischer 344 rats in a Transverse Electromagnetic Transmission line chamber to microwaves of 915 MHz as continuous wave (CW) and pulse-modulated with different pulse power and at various time intervals. The CW-pulse power varied from 0.001 W to 10 W and the exposure time from 2 min to 960 min. In each experiment we exposed 4-6 rats with 2-4 controls randomly placed in excited and non-excited TEM-cells respectively. We have in total investigated 630 exposed rats at various modulation frequencies and 372 controls. The frequency of pathological rats is significantly increased (p < 0: 0001) from 62/372 (ratio: 0: 17 +/- 0: 02) for control rats to 244/630 (ratio: 0: 39 +/- 0: 03) in all exposed rats. Grouping the exposed animals according to the level of specific absorbed energy (J/kg) give significant difference in all levels above 1.5 J/kg. The exposure was 915 MHz microwaves either pulse modulated (PW) at 217 Hz with 0.57 ms pulse width, at 50 Hz with 6.6 ms pulse width or continuous wave (CW). The frequency of pathological rats (0: 17) among controls in the various groups is not significantly different. The frequency of pathological rats was 170/481 (0: 35 +/- 0: 03) among rats exposed to pulse modulated (PW) and 74/149 (0: 50 +/- 0: 07) among rats exposed to continuous wave exposure (CW). These results are both highly significantly different to their corresponding controls (p < 0: 0001) and the frequency of pathological rats after exposure to pulsed radiation (PW) is significantly less (p < 0: 002) than after exposure to continuous radiation (CW).