title: Morphological and antioxidant impairments in the spinal cord of male offspring rats following exposure to a continuous 900MHz electromagnetic field during early and mid-adolescence.
abstract: The effects of devices emitting electromagnetic field (EMF) on human health have become the subject of intense research among scientists due to the rapid increase in their use. Children and adolescents are particularly attracted to the use of devices emitting EMF, such as mobile phones. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate changes in the spinal cords of male rat pups exposed to the effect of 900MHz EMF. The study began with 24 Sprague-Dawley male rats aged 3 weeks. Three groups containing equal numbers of rats were established-control group (CG), sham group (SG) and EMF group (EMFG). EMFG rats were placed inside an EMF cage every day between postnatal days (PD) 21 and 46 and exposed to the effect of 900MHz EMF for 1h. SG rats were kept in the EMF cage for 1h without being exposed to the effect of EMF. At the end of the study, the spinal cords in the upper thoracic region of all rats were removed. Tissues were collected for biochemistry, light microscopy (LM) and transmission electron microscopic (TEM) examination. Biochemistry results revealed significantly increased malondialdehyde and glutathione levels in EMFG compared to CG and SG, while SG and EMFG catalase and superoxide dismutase levels were significantly higher than those in CG. In EMFG, LM revealed atrophy in the spinal cord, vacuolization, myelin thickening and irregularities in the perikarya. TEM revealed marked loss of myelin sheath integrity and invagination into the axon and broad vacuoles in axoplasm. The study results show that biochemical alterations and pathological changes may occur in the spinal cords of male rats following exposure to 900MHz EMF for 1h a day on PD 21-46.
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ayşe
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: İkinci
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, Rize, Turkey.
authors.forename: Tolga
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mercantepe
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Deniz
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Unal
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hüseyin Serkan
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Erol
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ordu University, Ordu, Turkey.
authors.forename: Arzu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Şahin
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ordu University, Ordu, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aslan
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Ordu University, Ordu, Turkey.
authors.forename: Orhan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Baş
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Ordu University, Ordu, Turkey.
authors.forename: Havva
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Erdem
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Tepecik Education and Research Hospital, İzmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Osman Fikret
authors.initials: OF
authors.lastname: Sönmez
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey.
authors.forename: Haydar
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kaya
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey. Electronic address: eodaci@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ersan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Odacı
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism*; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008315:Malondialdehyde / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000528:radiation effects*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D008315:Malondialdehyde; D005978:Glutathione
keywords: Electromagnetic field; Light microscopy; Male rat; Mobile phone; Spinal cord; Transmission electron microscopy