Interaction of wireless communication fields with blood-brain barrier of laboratory animals

The blood-brain barrier is an anatomic and physiologic complex associated with the cerebral microvasculature. Anatomically, it consists of tight junctions between the endothelial cells of the blood capillaries, which is enveloped by a network of astrocytic foot processes. Many investigators have published studies on the effect of radio waves on the blood-brain barrier of animals, with varied results. Several reports during the past decade have observed leakages of endogenous serum albumin in blood, suggested that repeated exposure to microwave radiation from cellular mobile telephones could alter the permeability of the blood-brain barrier at SARs that are well below the maximal permissible level for mobile telephones. While an effort to confirm had failed at SARs of 0.3–1.5 W/kg, it had confirmed extravasation of serum albumin at 7.5 W/kg: a level about four times greater than the maximal permissible level for cellular mobile telephones. Currently, there are considerable interests from several laboratories around the world to replicate the reported occurrence of abnormal neurons in the rat brain — resulting from leakages of endogenous serum albumin — following low-level RF exposure. This review examines the methodologies and conditions under which BBB permeability changes have been reported to occur.