ePoster

Effects of 5G radiofrequencies (26 GHz) in healthy and depressive subjects: A behavioral approach of electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) in male and female rats

Adrien Vérité, Brigitte Cosquer, Maté Döbrössy, Pierre Veinante, Niels Kuster, Isaac Alonso Marin, Myles Capstick, Jean Christophe Cassel, Anne Pereira de Vasconcelos
FENS Forum 2024(2024)
Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Conference

FENS Forum 2024

Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Resources

Authors & Affiliations

Adrien Vérité, Brigitte Cosquer, Maté Döbrössy, Pierre Veinante, Niels Kuster, Isaac Alonso Marin, Myles Capstick, Jean Christophe Cassel, Anne Pereira de Vasconcelos

Abstract

Over the past 2 decades, the use of cellular mobile communication has increased exponentially, leading to a global rise of the worldwide population's exposure to artificial radiofrequencies (RF). Some individuals report being sensitive to these RF signals (electromagnetic hypersensitivity, EHS). We investigated in adult rats the effects of a chronic exposure to a 5G RF signal (26 GHz, OFDM, Incident Power Density average = 2.4 W/m2 with a peak value = 650 W/m2, 4 weeks, 4hrs/day) on affective symptomatology (depression, anxiety, pain) and memory (learning, retrieval, extinction). The project used the Flinders sensitive line (FSL, a valuable rat model of depression) and the Sprague-Dawley strain as control. Adult male or female rats (n = 108, 50:50) were randomly assigned to RF or Sham sub-groups (reverberant chamber with or without RF) or Home cage group (outside of the chamber). Locomotion and anxiety were assessed in open field and plus maze tests, depression in the forced swim test, pain threshold with hot plate and calibrated forceps, and spatial memory in the Morris water maze. Results showed that regardless of the phenotype or sex, a chronic exposure to 5G RF signals had no impact on locomotion, anxiety, depression and thermal or mechanical pain threshold. Likewise, such a RF exposure had no effect on learning, retrieval or extinction of a spatial memory. Thus, a chronic exposure to 5G 26 GHz signals left affective and cognitive functions unchanged, indicating no differential sensitivity to RF exposure depending upon sex and/or mood state.

Unique ID: fens-24/effects-radiofrequencies-healthy-depressive-1add80ff