Research has been focused on the effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMR) emitted from a mobile phone on general health, especially the nervous system. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of RF-EMR on the brain mechanism of rats by recording local field potentials (LFPs) signals during working memory (WM) task. Subjects were exposed to 900 MHz from a dipole antenna daily for three hours. Exposure was applied, first on a short term base (1 week) and then on a long term base (4 weeks). Behavioral parameters were measured weekly while rats performed T-maze tasks in two types of normal and delayed. LFPs signals were simultaneously recorded by implanted microelectrode arrays on the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of rats. Results showed a significant increase (*p < 0.05) in the task completion time of exposed rats which vanished shortly after the end of short term RF-EMR exposure. Before exposure, during correctly performed delayed tasks, an increase (peak) in power changes of theta band (4-12 Hz) was observed. But during correctly performed normal tasks, an increase appeared only by applying RF-EMR exposure. The similarity in power changes pattern of theta band in both types of tasks was observed after long term exposure. Classification accuracy of LFPs in truly done normal and delayed tasks was compared in pre and post-exposure states. Initial classification accuracy was 84.2 % which decreased significantly (*P < 0.05) after exposure. These observations indicated that RF-EMR may cause unusual brain functioning which is temporary at least for short term exposure.
Keywords: Local field potential (LFP); Medial prefrontal cortex; Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Radiation (RF-EMR); Theta band; Working memory.
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