Prenatal exposure to 900 MHz, cell-phone electromagnetic fields had no effect on operant-behavior performances of adult rats.
To clarify potential health risks of radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (EMFs) used in cellular telephone technology to the developing brain, Wistar rats were continuously exposed during pregnancy to a low-level (0.1 mW/cm(2)) 900 MHz, 217 Hz pulse modulated EMF that approximated the highest legal exposure of normal populations to the radiation of base antennas of the GSM digital cell-phone technology. Whole body average specific absorption rate (SAR) values for the freely roaming, pregnant animals were measured in models; they ranged between 17.5 and 75 mW/kg. The offspring of exposed and of sham-exposed dams were coded and tested later as adults in a battery of ten simultaneously operated test chambers (Skinner boxes) during night time. Eight groups of ten coded animals in each group were tested for learning deficits in a sequence of nine, computer-controlled, 15 h sessions of the food-reinforced contingency Differential Reinforcement of Rate with increasing performance requirements. Two different sets of events were recorded: The food-reinforced lever-pressing activity of the animals and the inter-response intervals (IRIs) between consecutive lever presses. IRI-occurence patterns discriminated consistently between "learners" and "non-learners". Analyses of performance scores and of IRI-patterns both showed that exposure in-utero to the GSM field did not induce any measurable cognitive deficits.
Bornhausen
M
M
Institut für Toxikologie, GSF-Forschungszentrum für Umwelt und Gesundheit, Neuherberg, Germany. michael.bornhausen@t-online.de
Scheingraber
H
H
D000818:Animals; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D005260:Female; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D013689:Telephone