Thermographic Analysis of Swiss Albino Mice Exposed to 1.8 GHz GSM Frequency

摘要

Exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic field has been a subject of debate for many years. Currently, related regulations provided were meant to safeguard occupational and general public for short term thermal effect only. Due to that reason, this study was designed to investigate the long term thermal effect of electromagnetic field exposure of 1.8 GHz GSM frequency. 72 unrestrained Swiss Albino mice were used as surrogate for this study and were divided into two groups of 1.8 GHz and control groups. The cage for the 1.8 GHz group was placed at far field distance from the directional antenna, and the exposure were for 7 hours/day, 7 days/week and for 4 weeks. While the cage for control group is sham exposed. Thermographic pictures were taken daily to obtain average temperature of the mice brain before and after being exposed to the 1.8 GHz GSM down-link frequency. The highest and lowest mice brain temperatures recorded for 1.8 GHz group are on day 20 and day 6 with temperature of 37.0°C and 33.9°C, respectively. While, the highest and lowest mice brain temperatures recorded for control group are on day 1 and day 24 with temperature of 36.9°C and 32.7°C, respectively. Daily rise in temperature for 1.8 GHz and control groups range from 0.3°C to 2.1°C and 0.3°C to 2.8°C, respectively. The mice weight taken on weekly basis shows a decrease for 1.8 GHz expose group as compared to the mice in control group. The death rate was also found to be higher for mice in 1.8 GHz group compared to the mice in control group.