Effect of mobile phone radiation on oxidative stress, inflammatory response, and contextual fear memory in Wistar rat

In the present lifestyle, we are continuously exposed to radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) radiation generated mainly by mobile phones (MP). Among other organs, our brain and hippocampus in specific, is the region where effect of any environmental perturbation is most pronounced. So, this study was aimed to examine changes in major parameters (oxidative stress, level of pro-inflammatory cytokines (PICs), hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis hormones, and contextual fear conditioning) which are linked to hippocampus directly or indirectly, upon exposure to mobile phone radiofrequency electromagnetic field (MP-RF-EMF) radiation. Exposure was performed on young adult male Wistar rats for 16 weeks continuously (2 h/day) with MP-RF-EMF radiation having frequency, power density, and specific absorption rate (SAR) of 1966.1 MHz, 4.0 mW/cm 2 , and 0.36 W/kg, respectively. Another set of animals kept in similar conditions without any radiation exposure serves as control. Towards the end of exposure period, animals were tested for fear memory and then euthanized to measure hippocampal oxidative stress, level of circulatory PICs, and stress hormones. We observed significant increase in hippocampal oxidative stress ( p