Microwave frequency-electromagnetic field 10 GHz radiation exposure impact on rat skin: An oxidative stress insight

Various systems of military as well as civilian applications are being widely used worldwide, which involve microwave (MW) radiation at X-Band frequency. Besides their innumerable benefits in different areas of commercial and military sectors, increasing scientific evidences have shown that MW exposure may also lead to adverse biological consequence. The present study investigated the effect of 10 GHz MW exposure on skin of experimental rats. The animals were exposed to 10 GHz source in an anechoic chamber for 3 h daily uninterruptedly for 5 consecutive days at constant power density 5.0 mW/cm
²
. The oxidative stress markers revealed increase levels of free radical generation, lipid peroxidation and advanced oxidation protein products in MW exposed group compared to the sham-exposed group. The antioxidant enzyme SOD was also found to be significantly elevated. Thus, the study showed that 10 GHz MW exposure causes increase in free radical levels and instigated the events of regulation of oxidative stress in rat skin.