Learning and memory

"In summary, exposure to 2.4 GHz electromagnetic fields emitted by Wi-Fi devices could have an indirect impact on the regulation of genes involved in Alzheimer’s disease, particularly those related to oxidative stress and cellular homeostasis. Although a direct relationship has not been demonstrated, current findings suggest that the alteration of genes such as GSK3B and APOE, which are fundamental in neurodegeneration, could be exacerbated by chronic exposure to this radiation. Future research should address this hypothesis to provide a clearer understanding of the potential risks associated with electromagnetic radiation and its impact on neuronal health and the development of Alzheimer’s disease."

"Even after adjusting for low birth weight, we found that higher levels of radiation were associated with poorer outcomes for cognitive domains of development such as problem solving, and personal-social areas. Thus, there is a need to monitor the neuro-development of children in whom the RF-EMF radiations are expected to be higher (such as very close to cell phone towers, too many gadgets in the house)."

"Both animal and human studies, discussed above, show that EMFs can not only greatly increase the incidence of AD but can also decrease the latency period; the human latency of AD may decrease from about 25 years to perhaps 5 or 10 years. This means that it is possible that exposures we already have, 5G and possibly also 4G and smart meters, may have already caused the ultimate disaster, but we do not know it yet because we are still in the latency period."

"Pre and postnatal 2450 MHz continuous wave radiofrequency radiation exposure may cause changes in the function of the MAPK pathway affecting cognitive processes such as learning and memory and may cause damage to both the fetus and adult brain tissue. Also, EMF may have potential to affect brain of future generations."

"Based upon recent and new evidence we hypothesise that a major contribution for the relative sudden upsurge in neurological morbidity in the Western world (1989–2015), is because of increased background EMF that has become the tipping point-impacting upon any genetic predisposition, increasing multiple-interactive pollutants, such as rises in petro-chemicals, hormone disrupting chemicals, industrial, agricultural and domestic chemicals. The unprecedented neurological death rates, all within just twenty-five years, demand a re-examination of long-term EMF safety related to the increasing background EMF on human health. We do not wish to ‘stop the modern world’, only make it safer."

"The results presented here require further investigation to determine potential links of EMF with the molecular pathogenic mechanisms in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases."

"It is possible that wireless communications, may represent a new factor affecting human health while exposure to these devices could be involved in pathogenic mechanisms leading to neurodegeneration."

"Our results showed that MW radiation exposure decreased the learning and memory performance that was associated with decrement of long-term potentiation induction and excitability of CA1 neurons."

"Exposure to EMR induced significant changes in amino acid neurotransmitters in the studied brain areas of juvenile and young adult rats, being more prominent in juvenile animals. It could be concluded that the alterations in amino acid neurotransmitters induced by EMR exposure of juvenile and young adult rats may underlie many of the neurological effects reported after EMR exposure including cognitive and memory impairment and sleep disorders. Some of these effects may persist for some time after stopping exposure."

"Animals exposed to EMR-2450 MHz exhibited significant cognitive deficits. EMR2450 MHz caused loss of mitochondrial function and integrity, an increase in amyloid beta expression. There was release of cytochrome-c and activation of apoptotic factors such as caspase-9 and -3 in the hippocampus. Further, there was decrease in levels of acetylcholine, and increase in activity of acetyl cholinesterase, indicating impairment of cholinergic system. Therefore, exposure of EMR-2450 in rats caused cognitive deficit with related pathophysiological changes in mitochondrial and cholinergic function, and amyloidogenesis."

"The experimental group was exposed to electromagnetic wave at 2450 MHZ frequency for 20 minutes."

"Results: A significant decrease in reaction time was observed in the experimental group after exposure as compared to the sham group, but the accuracy rate was not changed significantly. Conclusion: According to the findings of present study, it can be concluded that electromagnetic wave exposure in 2450 MHZ frequency may induce transient effect on working memory in healthy humans by curbing the reaction time."

"In morris water maze, elevated plus maze and light dark box test, the 2.45GHz radiation exposed rats elicited memory decline and anxiety behavior."

"The study clearly indicates that exposure of rats to microwave radiation of 2.45GHz leads to detrimental changes in brain leading to lowering of learning and memory and expression of anxiety behavior in rats along with fall in brain antioxidant enzyme systems."

"We observed that 2.45 GHz MW irradiated mice showed slow learning and significantly increased number of working and reference memory errors in radial maze task."

"Results demonstrated that rats in Wi-Fi exposure groups could not discriminate significantly between the novel and familiar objects in any of the standard SOR [spontaneous object recognition], tactile SOR, visual SOR, and CMOR tests. The expression of M1 receptors increased following Wi-Fi exposure. In conclusion, results of this study showed that chronic exposure to Wi-Fi electromagnetic waves might impair both unimodal and cross-modal encoding of information."

"In conclusion, the present study suggests that low level subchronic microwave radiation leads to potentially significant effects on rat brain as evidenced by DNA damage and increased HSP70 level in hippocampus tissues which could induce cognitive impairment in rats. Further in vivo experimentation is warranted to better understand the molecular mechanism of action."

"These findings led us to conclude that chronic exposure to low level 2.45 GHz (CW) MW radiation severely affects the hippocampal neuronal plasticity and circuitry, and impairs learning and spatial memory through p53-dependent/independent apoptosis of hippocampal neuronal and nonneuronal cells."

"Results showed significant reduction in levels of DA, NE, E and 5-HT in hippocampus of microwave-exposed animals in comparison with sham-exposed (control) animals. In addition, significant downregulation in mRNA expression of TH, TPH1 and TPH2 was also observed in microwave-exposed animals (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the results indicate that low-intensity microwave radiation may cause learning and memory disturbances by altering levels of brain monoamine neurotransmitters at mRNA and protein levels."

"Taken together, these results demonstrated that exposure to 900 MHz EMF radiation for 28 days can significantly impair spatial memory and damage BBB permeability in rat by activating the mkp-1/ERK pathway."

"Result from STM (Short term memory) and LTM (Long term memory) test, s[h]owed significant change in Mobile Tower Radiation Treated Mice (MTRTM) as compared with without MTR treated mice. The numbers of mistakes done by MTR-TM group of mice were higher than the control."

"In all the three trials, the average difference between control and radiated mice for muscular strength was significant (p < 0.05). Path movement was more random in MTR-TM and also observed less activity than without treated control mice."

"Radial arm maze test revealed that 10 GHz leads to significant depletion in spatial learning and memory performance in Swiss albino mice."

"A significant change in behavior, i.e., more anxiety and poor learning was shown by test animals as compared to controls and sham group. A significant change in the level of antioxidant enzymes and non-enzymatic antioxidants, and an increase in lipid peroxidation were observed in the test rats. Histological examination showed neurodegenerative cells in hippocampal sub regions and the cerebral cortex."

"The data suggest that visual information processing mechanisms in hippocampus, perirhinal and entorhinal cortex are gradually malfunctioning upon long-term daily exposure, a phenotype that persists for at least 2 weeks after interruption of radiation, returning to normal memory performance levels 4 weeks later. "

"RESULTS: The exposure to EMR resulted in significant changes in DA, NE and 5-HT in the four selected areas of adult rat brain.

CONCLUSIONS: The exposure of adult rats to EMR may cause disturbances in monoamine neurotransmitters and this may underlie many of the adverse effects reported after EMR including memory, learning, and stress."

"Average completion times in an eight-arm radial maze were longer in the exposed rats than control rats after 4–5 weeks of exposure. Error rates in the exposed rats were greater than the control rats at 6 weeks. Hippocampal neurons from the exposed rats showed irregular firing patterns during the experiment, and they exhibited decreased spiking activity 6–9 weeks compared with that after 2–5 weeks of exposure. These results indicate that 916 MHz electromagnetic fields influence learning and memory in rats during exposure, but long-term effects are not obvious."

"We conclude that radiation induces marked morphological disturbances in the hippocampal CA1 region. This may, at least in part, contribute to learning and memory impairments that occur after exposure to EMR."

"These results clearly demonstrate that exposure of mice to EMF deriving from commercially available mobile phone at SAR values within the ICNIRP guidelines for 2 h prior to the daily Morris water maze trial, affects the spatial learning and memory function in Balb/c mice."