Specific electromagnetic radiation in the wireless signal range increases wakefulness in mice

2021 · Harm · Low evidence

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HarmLow evidencePaper 684

Prolonged exposure of mice to 2.4-GHz EMR modulated by 100-Hz square pulses at a nonthermal output level increased wakefulness time and decreased NREM and REM time. Prolonged exposure to unmodulated 2.4-GHz EMR at the same time-averaged output level had littl…

Study snapshot

Publicationmanual · 2021

Study typeanimal

Reported directionHarm

Evidence ratingLow

Abstract

Specific electromagnetic radiation in the wireless signal range increases wakefulness in mice Liu L, Deng H, Tang X, Lu Y, Zhou J, Wang X, Zhao Y, Huang B, Shi Y. Specific electromagnetic radiation in the wireless signal range increases wakefulness in mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Aug 3;118(31):e2105838118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2105838118. Abstract Electromagnetic radiation (EMR) in the environment has increased sharply in recent decades. The effect of environmental EMR on living organisms remains poorly characterized. Here, we report the impact of wireless- range EMR on the sleep architecture of mouse. Prolonged exposure to 2.4-GHz EMR modulated by 100-Hz square pulses at a nonthermal output level results in markedly increased time of wakefulness in mice. These mice display corresponding decreased time of nonrapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM). In contrast, prolonged exposure to unmodulated 2.4-GHz EMR at the same time-averaged output level has little impact on mouse sleep. These observations identify alteration of sleep architecture in mice as a specific physiological response to prolonged wireless-range EMR exposure. Excerpts "Prolonged radiation of mice (Pos9) using the Pulse64W regimen, but not the Conti8W regimen, results in statistically significant increase of wakefulness (Figs. 2, ,4,4, andand5).5). Notably, these two regimens have the same time-averaged radiation level over the 12-h sleep period, suggesting a key role for pulse modulation." "A distinct implication of this study is the possibility that prolonged exposure to modulated 2.4-GHz radiation, such as the wireless signal, might also increase wakefulness for humans. However, assessing this possibility may take extraordinary effort because of the complex issues for human volunteers. Consistent with our conclusion on the Conti8W group, previous studies found no significant effect on human sleep by unmodulated radiation (33, 36). Whole-night exposure to Wi-Fi was found to affect the sleep microstructure of humans but had no significant acute effects on the sleep macrostructure (42). This result is consistent with prior studies on the effect of mobile phone and base station radiation on human sleep (24, 28, 33). Another study on human subjects found no significant effects of 900-MHz EMR with global system for mobile communications modulation, either on conventional sleep parameters or on power spectra (30)." "In a collective exposure scenario, the average power density at close proximity is about 0.037 W/m2 for a smartphone, 0.013 W/m2 for a laptop, and 0.13 W/m2 near the Wi-Fi router (1). These values are considerably lower than the time- and whole-body–averaged general public exposure limit of 10 W/m2 or occupational exposure limit of 50 W/m2 for 2–300 GHz suggested by International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (43). In our experiments, the measured spatial averaged power density for Conti8W is 36.80 ± 0.92 W/m2. Pulse64W is expected to have the same power density. Importantly, the effective EMR dose for inducing a biological response in mice is likely to be different from that in humans. Therefore, the relatively high EMR dose of the Pulse64W regimen that causes increased wakefulness in mice could be markedly reduced in humans. An epidemiological survey among those who work under either very high or very low doses of wireless radiation may reveal some clues. In this study, 2.4-GHz EMR is modulated by 100-Hz square pulses, which have sharp edges and thus might have some unanticipated impact on neural activity in the brain. Additional experiments should be performed to examine whether other modulation functions such as sinusoidal modulation can induce similar increase of wakefulness in mice. In addition, other modulation frequencies such as 10 and 1,000 Hz should be investigated to answer the question of whether increased wakefulness is specific to certain modulation frequencies. Finally, both the intensity and the frequency of the carrier EMR (2.4 GHz in this study) should be scrutinized." Open access paper: pnas.org

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AI evidence extraction

Structured fields below were generated from the paper’s abstract and metadata to make the evidence easier to inspect. Automated extraction may be incomplete or incorrect; verify important details against the original paper.

Study typeanimal

Effect directionharm

Populationmice

Sample sizeNot supplied

ExposureRF · 2400 MHz · prolonged exposure (12-h sleep period mentioned)

Evidence strengthLowConfidence: 78% · Peer reviewed: yes

Main findings

Outcomes measured

wakefulness time
NREM sleep time
REM sleep time
sleep architecture

Limitations

Sample size not stated in provided abstract/excerpts
Exposure metrics such as SAR not reported in provided text
Findings are in mice; human relevance is uncertain
Exposure levels described as relatively high compared with typical close-proximity device power densities (as discussed by authors)
Only one modulation type/frequency (100-Hz square pulses) described; generalizability to other modulations/frequencies not established

View raw extracted JSON

{
  "study_type": "animal",
  "exposure": {
    "band": "RF",
    "source": "wi-fi",
    "frequency_mhz": 2400,
    "sar_wkg": null,
    "duration": "prolonged exposure (12-h sleep period mentioned)"
  },
  "population": "mice",
  "sample_size": null,
  "outcomes": [
    "wakefulness time",
    "NREM sleep time",
    "REM sleep time",
    "sleep architecture"
  ],
  "main_findings": "Prolonged exposure of mice to 2.4-GHz EMR modulated by 100-Hz square pulses at a nonthermal output level increased wakefulness time and decreased NREM and REM time. Prolonged exposure to unmodulated 2.4-GHz EMR at the same time-averaged output level had little impact on mouse sleep.",
  "effect_direction": "harm",
  "limitations": [
    "Sample size not stated in provided abstract/excerpts",
    "Exposure metrics such as SAR not reported in provided text",
    "Findings are in mice; human relevance is uncertain",
    "Exposure levels described as relatively high compared with typical close-proximity device power densities (as discussed by authors)",
    "Only one modulation type/frequency (100-Hz square pulses) described; generalizability to other modulations/frequencies not established"
  ],
  "evidence_strength": "low",
  "confidence": 0.78,
  "peer_reviewed_likely": "yes",
  "keywords": [
    "2.4 GHz",
    "wireless-range EMR",
    "Wi-Fi",
    "pulse modulation",
    "100-Hz square pulses",
    "sleep architecture",
    "wakefulness",
    "NREM",
    "REM",
    "nonthermal"
  ],
  "suggested_hubs": [
    {
      "slug": "school-wi-fi",
      "weight": 0.6,
      "reason": "Study uses 2.4-GHz wireless-range (Wi‑Fi-like) radiation and discusses Wi‑Fi exposure context."
    },
    {
      "slug": "who-icnirp",
      "weight": 0.45,
      "reason": "Excerpts reference ICNIRP general public and occupational exposure limits for 2–300 GHz."
    }
  ]
}

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AI-extracted fields are generated from the abstract and metadata and may be incomplete or incorrect. This material is for informational purposes and is not medical advice.

Identifiers and source

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2105838118
PubMed: Not supplied

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