Glial markers and emotional memory in rats following cerebral radiofrequency exposures

The widespread mobile phone use raises concerns on the possible cerebral effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF). Reactive astrogliosis was reported in neuroanatomical structures of adaptive behaviors after a single RF-EMF exposure at high specific absorption rate (SAR, 6 W/kg). Here, we aimed to assess if neuronal injury and functional impairments were related to high SARs-induced astrogliosis. In addition, the level of beta amyloid 1-40 (Aβ 1-40) peptide was explored as a possible toxicity marker. Rats were exposed for 15 min at 0, 1.5 or 6 W/kg or for 45 min at 6 W/kg. Memory, emotionality and locomotion were tested in the fear conditioning, the elevated plus maze and the open field. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP, total and cytosolic fractions), myelin basic protein (MBP) and Aβ1-40 were quantified in 6 brain areas using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. According to our data, GFAP was increased in the striatum (+114%) at 1.5 W/kg. Long term memory was reduced and GFAP was increased in the hippocampus (+119%) and in the olfactory bulb (+46%) at 6 W/kg (15 min). No MBP or Aβ1-40 expression modification was shown. Our data corroborates previous studies indicating RF-EMF-induced astrogliosis. This effect was linked to functional consequences on memory.