Changes of Acid Neurotransmitter Concentrations in Striatum and Thalamus Induced by Exposure of Young and Adult Rats to Electromagnetic Radiation

The rapid rise in the use of mobile communications has raised the questions about the health issues. The head and the brain are usually the most exposed targets in mobile phone users. Over the last decade, exposure to high frequency electromagnetic radiation (EMR) has been found to induce deficits in rodents in spatial memory tasks. In addition, radiofrequency radiation has measurable effects on human cognitive performance. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of 900MHz EMR on some amino acid neurotransmitters (glutamic acid, aspartic acid, glutamine, GABA, glycine taurine) to measure their significant variations in the thalamus and striatum of adult and young rats. In the present study, both adult and young rats were exposed to EMR at a frequency of 900MHz, a power density of 0.02mW/Cm^2 and an average specific absorption rate of1.165W/kg for one hour daily. Both the exposed and control rats were decapitated after 1h, 1,2 and 4 months of daily exposure to EMR and another group was decapitated after 1 month of stopping the exposure that extended daily for 4 months. Most of the excitatory and inhibitory amino acid neurotransmitters in the thalamus and striatum of the two ages showed significant increase after 1h of a single exposure. This increase persisted in the two areas of the adult animals only throughout the three time intervals (1, 2 4 months of daily exposure). However, in the young rats this increase was normalized after 1 and 2 months and reappeared after 4 months. The most prominent effect recorded after stopping exposure was a significant increase in the striatal excitatory amino acid neurotransmitters of adult rats and a decrease in striatal GABA in young animals. The present reported data cannot exclude the possibility of the microwave-induced biological effects on the brain at a power level and frequency related to mobile communication. It may be concluded that the alteration in the amino acid neurotransmitters may provide one of the mechanisms underlying the memory and cognitive disorders induced by mobile phone radiation.