The effect on rat peripheral nerve morphology and function of a 900-MHz electromagnetic field applied in the prenatal period

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a 900 megahertz (MHz) electromagnetic field (EMF) applied in the prenatal period on rat peripheral nerve morphology, nerve conduction velocity, and locomotor activity. Nine pregnant Sprague Dawley rats were assigned into three groups. No procedure was applied to the first group (control). The second (sham) group was placed inside an EMF cage for 1 h a day throughout the experiment (days 1-21 of pregnancy), but was not exposed to EMF. The third group (EMF) was placed inside the EMF cage for 1 h a day throughout the experiment (days 1-21 of pregnancy) and exposed to a 900 MHz EMF. No procedure was applied to the newborn pups until postnatal (PN) day 21, and new groups were constituted from among these. All the newly established groups were subjected to the open field and rotarod tests on PN days 21 and 60, after which electrophysiological measurements were performed on the groups in line with the study protocol. Sciatic nerves obtained from the animals sacrificed on PN day 60 were subjected to histopathological, histomorphometric, immunohistochemical, and biochemical analyses. In light of the study results, we concluded that prenatal application of a 900 MHz EMF adversely affects rat peripheral nerve development, and that these effects persist up to adulthood such as to be detectable in the sciatic nerve morphology, but that these morphological changes are not sufficiently severe to affect functional associated with the sciatic nerve.