BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER DYSFUNCTION IN WISTAR RATS EXPOSED TO MULTI-TRANSCEIVER MOBILE RADIOFREQUENCY, SOUND, AND VIBRATIONS
Abstract:This study looked at the functional changes in the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in Wistar rats after exposure to electromagnetic
field, vibration, and ringtone from a multi-transceiver mobile phone. Twenty-five (25) male Wistar rats were randomly divided
into five groups (n=5). For six weeks, group A (control) and test groups were exposed to mobile phone electromagnetic field
through a 10-minute calls/day from a Tecno 900/1800 MHz in various modalities. Viz: groups B – E in silent-only, vibrationonly, ringtone-only and ringtone with vibration, respectively. BBB in various regions of the brain using evans blue dye tracer
technique and brain TNF-α was studied at the end of the sixth week of exposure. There were significant (α0.05) decrease in
BBB in the cerebellum, cerebrum, and the two hemispheres of the brain and insignificant increases in the levels of brain TNFα across all groups of animals exposed to phones in various modalities. These findings suggest that exposure to electromagnetic
fields, vibration, and sound from multi-transceiver phones may be a risk factor for loss of BBB integrity.