Effects of repeated restraint stress and WiFi signal exposure on behavior and oxidative stress in rats

Abstract

Today, due to technology development and aversive events of daily life, Human exposure to both radiofrequency and stress is unavoidable. This study investigated the co-exposure to repeated restraint stress and WiFi signal on cognitive function and oxidative stress in brain of male rats. Animals were divided into four groups: Control, WiFi-exposed, restrained and both WiFi-exposed and restrained groups. Each of WiFi exposure and restraint stress occurred 2 h (h)/day during 20 days. Subsequently, various tests were carried out for each group, such as anxiety in elevated plus maze, spatial learning abilities in the water maze, cerebral oxidative stress response and cholinesterase activity in brain and serum. Results showed that WiFi exposure and restraint stress, alone and especially if combined, induced an anxiety-like behavior without impairing spatial learning and memory abilities in rats. At cerebral level, we found an oxidative stress response triggered by WiFi and restraint, per se and especially when combined as well as WiFi-induced increase in acetylcholinesterase activity. Our results reveal that there is an impact of WiFi signal and restraint stress on the brain and cognitive processes especially in elevated plus maze task. In contrast, there are no synergistic effects between WiFi signal and restraint stress on the brain.

Manmade Electromagnetic Fields and Oxidative Stress—Biological Effects and Consequences for Health

“…In these experiments, sham controls and prior training of the animals to the conditions of exposure are important. In addition to increased ROS production, a change in the anxiety behavior, but not in memory performance, was found after WiFi exposure of rats exposed in tubes, which was enhanced by the exposure [59,60].…”

“…WiFi exposure of adult male Wistar rats alone or with physical constraint impaired the learning behavior and memory performance accompanied by an oxidative stress response in the brain. [59]. Albeit having some methodological shortcomings, the study by Asl et al also showed increased ROS and NO production in rats exposed to RF-EMF/WiFi (2450 MHz; 0.98 mW/cm 2 ) [50].…”

“…There have been only a few studies in Wistar rats exposed to a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) signal (2.45 GHz) [50,[59][60][61]. Othman et al found impaired neurodevelopment in offspring during the first 17 postnatal days, an increase in cerebral ROS and lipid peroxidation on postnatal day 28 but not 43 after prenatal exposure for 2 h/day, and decreased antioxidant levels (CAT, SOD) [61], indicating an exhaustion of the antioxidative capacity in the brain.…”

“…In general, studies, in which ROS, antioxidative markers, learning behavior, and memory performance were examined, suggest an impairment of neuronal functions of the animals. Thus, there is evidence that, at least in animal models, increased ROS production by EMF is associated with an impairment of cognitive abilities [51,52,[56][57][58][59][60]. Notably, RF-EMF exposure affected the memory performance of animals with neurodegenerative pre-damage of the brain (i.e., Alzheimer's disease model) more than in control wildtype animals [63], indicating an enhancement of conditions of impaired learning behavior by RF-EMF.…”

STEM Education and Nature: from Neurosciences to Nano Sciences

“…In elementary schools or high school, the quality of STEM education should be related to motivation, attention, perception of time and stress. Based on our expertise in the field of the evaluation of bioeffects of Electromagnetic Field EMF (Mobile phone, WIFI, electronic equipment [1][2][3][4], we ought to control the time of exposure of our children to EMF in order to reduce stress and to enhance memorization and thinking leading to a boost of STEM knowledge.…”