Study type: Medical/biological study (experimental study)

Prenatal Exposure to Non-ionizing Radiation: Effects of WiFi Signals on Pregnancy Outcome, Peripheral B-Cell Compartment and Antibody Production med./bio.

By: Sambucci M, Laudisi F, Nasta F, Pinto R, Lodato R, Altavista P, Lovisolo GA, Marino C, Pioli C
Published in: Radiat Res 2010; 174 (6): 732-740
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Aim of study (acc. to author)

To study the effects of prenatal (in utero) exposure to WiFi signals on pregnancy outcome and some immunological parameters.

Background/further details

16 mated female mice were assigned to each of the following groups: cage control, sham exposed and microwave-exposed group. After delivery newborn mice were left to grow until 5 or 26 weeks of age when they were killed and immunological analyses were performed.
To maximize the possibility of finding an effect, animals were exposed to a very high SAR (4 W/kg) that exceeds any realistic scenario of human exposure.

Endpoint

Exposure

Exposure Parameters
Exposure 1: 2.45–2.473 GHz
Exposure duration: continuous for 2 h/day on 14 consecutive days, starting 5 days after mating, ending one day before expected delivery

Exposure 1

Main characteristics
Frequency 2.45–2.473 GHz
Type
Exposure duration continuous for 2 h/day on 14 consecutive days, starting 5 days after mating, ending one day before expected delivery
Exposure setup
Exposure source
Setup commercial WiFi access point connected to a notebook via LAN and communicating with a PC using single channel transmission with channel 11; mice placed with the posterior part on the side of the field origin and maintained with the caudal axis parallel to the direction of field propagation; daily clockwise rotation of the eight animals inside the 120 cm long TEM cell
Sham exposure A sham exposure was conducted.
Parameters
Measurand Value Type Method Mass Remarks
SAR 4 W/kg - measured whole body -
Additional parameter details

The following numerical SARs were obtained using a realistic model based on a TC scan. In dam 2 the presence (50%) of amniotic liquid (er 5 75.0 and s 5 2.8 S/m at 2450 MHz) was considered: Dam 1: whole-body SAR = 3.3 W/kg, average SAR in the uterus = 3.07 +/- 1.93 W/kg Dam 2: whole-body SAR = 3.29 W/kg, average SAR in the uterus = 4.33 +/- 2.21 W/kg

Reference articles

Exposed system:

Methods Endpoint/measurement parameters/methodology

Investigated system:
Investigated organ system:
Time of investigation:
  • after exposure

Main outcome of study (acc. to author)

No effects due to exposure to WiFi signals during pregnancy on mating success, number of newborns per dam and body weight at birth were found.
No differences due to exposure were found in spleen cell number, B cell frequency or antibody serum levels. When stimulated in vitro with LPS, B cells from all groups produced comparable amounts of IgM and IgG, and proliferated at a similar level. All these findings were consistently observed in the female and male offspring at both juvenile (5 weeks) and adult (26 weeks) ages. Stress-associated effects (e.g. comparison of cage control and restrained rats of the other two groups) as well as age- and/or sex-related differences were observed for several parameters.
In conclusion, the data did not show any effect on pregnancy outcome or any early or late effects on B cell differentiation and function due to prenatal exposure to WiFi signals.

Study character:

Study funded by

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