Effects of microwave electromagnetic radiations emitted from common Wi-Fi routers on rats’ sperm count and motility

Background: Wi-Fi allows electronic devices such as laptops to exchange data or connect to a network resource. The main goal of this study was to assess the bioeffects of short term exposure to 2.4 GHz microwave radia$on emi%ed from a common Wi-Fi router on sperm quality. Materials and Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into 7 groups; I, sham exposed 4 h/ day for 7days at 30 cm from the router. II, exposed for 2 h/day for 7days at 30 cm and sacrificed a0er 53 days. The exposure protocols for groups III to VII were 2h – 30 cm, 2h – 60 cm, 4 h – 30 cm, 4 h- 60 cm, 4 h – 30 cm (no data exchange) respec$vely. Rats in all the groups except group II, were sacrificed immediately a0er exposure and basic parameters of tes$cles weight, sperm mo$lity, morphology, count, and DNA fragmenta$on were studied. Nonparametric tests were used to detect sta$s$cally significant differences between different groups. Results: Findings of this study showed sta$s$cally significant differences between the rela$ve frequency of progressive and rapid progressive sperms in sham exposed rats compared to those of exposure groups. The tes$cles weight, DNA fragmenta$on of sperms and the frequency of sperms with normal morphology were not affected by Wi-Fi radia$on. However, sta$s$cally significant differences between sperm count of the sham exposed rats compared to those of exposure group were observed. Conclusion: Exposure to microwave radia$on emi%ed from Wi-Fi routers affects sperm parameters such as count and mo$lity which are among the key parameters determining the chance of conceiving.