Neuromorphological Effects of Acute and Chronic Electromagnetic Irradiation

Morphological changes in the cerebral cortex were studied in model experiments on three types of laboratory animals (mice, rats, dogs) exposed to both acute and chronic electromagnetic radiation. It has been established that neurons are highly reactive and at the same time plasticity to the electromagnetic factor. Changes in neurons are more pronounced with general than with partial irradiation. The greatest response was found from the structures of the protein-synthesizing system of neurons, as well as their interneuronal contacts. After 3 days of the recovery period, changes were detected only at the ultrastructural level in the form of residues, decayed organelles, clusters of lysosomes and local foci of brain edema. With chronic exposure to microwaves with exposure at the “zero effect” level, the sensitivity of neurons to electromagnetic radiation was characterized by species differences and was inversely dependent on the animal’s body weight: mice were the most sensitive, the structures of the rat nervous system were more resistant, and the nervous structures of dogs had the least sensitivity.