This study investigated the effects of long-term, low-level exposure to radio-frequency radiation (RFR) on various physiological systems in a large rodent population. Two hundred adult male white rats with chronically implanted aortic cannulas were randomly divided into two groups. Animals in the first group were exposed to the low-level RFR environment for approximately 22 hours daily, seven days a week, for six months. Depending on animal orientation within the home cage (all animals singly caged) the estimated whole-body specific absorption rate (SAR) ranged from 0.04 to 0.4 W/kg. The estimated mean whole-body SAR ranged from 0.3 W/kg (medium-sized rats) to 0.35 W/kg (large-sized rats). A second, sham-exposure group was maintained under identical conditions, but were not radiated. Microsamples of blood were withdrawn on a cyclic schedule from the unanesthetized and unrestrained rats. The blood samples were assayed for plasma adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), plasma corticosterone, plasma prolactin, plasma catecholamines (norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine), hematological end points (hematocrit ratio, complete red blood cell count, complete white blood cell count, and a differential count of neutrophils, eosinophils, and monocytes), and cardiovascular end points (heart rate and mean arterial blood pressure). Analysis of the results showed no significant RFR-induced differences in these end points when the RFR-exposed group was compared to the sham-exposed group. Chronic exposure to the low-level, pulsed field resulted in no adverse effects on animal health, as measured by the spectrum of blood-borne end points.
To study the effects of exposure to long-term, low-level radio-frequency radiation (RFR) on various physiological systems in a large population of rodents, a complete exposure facility was designed and constructed at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The major components of the facility included a set of circular, stacked, parallel-plate waveguides fed by slotted-cylinder antennas. The waveguides provided a TE10 mode, horizontally polarized field in which the maximal power density occurred midway between the parallel plates. The feed antenna and the parallel-plate waveguides generated a field that radiated outward and was uniform in the azimuthal plane. Thus, animals arrayed along the periphery of the plates were exposed to a uniform 1.0 mW/cm2 field (1.0 microsecond pulse width, 1 kHz pulse repetition rate, 435 MHz carrier). The facility transmitter provided four channels of 435 MHz RFR at 200 W average (continuous wave) or 5 kW peak (pulsed-wave) power; in addition, the transmitter outputs could be combined into a single channel capable of energizing one tier of the stacked parallel-plate waveguide system at 800 W continuous wave or at 16 kW of pulsed waves. To individually house the 200 rodents involved in the study, both biological and engineering criteria were examined and used to design and construct special Plexiglas cages.
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