Enriched Environment Decreases Cognitive Impairment in Elderly Rats With Prenatal Mobile Phone Exposure

2020 · Mixed · Low evidence

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MixedLow evidencePaper 1486

Prenatal long-term (but not short-term) mobile phone exposure was associated with cognitive impairment in elderly rat offspring, along with hippocampal morphological changes, reduced synaptic number, and decreased SYN, PSD-95, and BDNF expression. Enriched en…

Study snapshot

Publicationmanual · 2020

Study typeanimal

Reported directionMixed

Evidence ratingLow

Abstract

Enriched Environment Decreases Cognitive Impairment in Elderly Rats With Prenatal Mobile Phone Exposure Shanyan Hong, Honghong Huang, Meili Yang, Haining Wu, Lingxing Wang. Enriched Environment Decreases Cognitive Impairment in Elderly Rats With Prenatal Mobile Phone Exposure. Front Aging Neurosci. 2020 Jun 4;12:162. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2020.00162. Abstract Mobile phone use has rapidly increased worldwide, and pregnant women are passively or actively exposed to the associated electromagnetic radiation. Maternal cell phone exposure is related to behavioral difficulties in young offspring. However, whether prenatal mobile phone exposure can predispose the elderly offspring to cognitive impairment is unclear. The enriched environment (EE) has shown positive effects on cognition in an immature brain, but its impact on aging offspring after prenatal cell phone exposure is unknown. This study aimed to investigate whether prenatal exposure to mobile phone exerts long-term effects on cognition in elderly rat offspring and whether EE during adulthood can rescue cognitive impairment by altering the synaptic plasticity. Pregnant rats were subjected to prenatal short-term or long-term cell phone exposure and offspring rats were randomly assigned to standard or EE. Spatial learning and memory were investigated using Morris water maze (MWM) in elderly rat offspring. Hippocampal cellular morphology was assessed by hematoxylin- eosin staining and synaptic ultrastructure was evaluated with transmission electron microscopy. Expression of synaptophysin (SYN), postsynaptic density-95 (PSD-95), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were detected by western blot. The results demonstrated that prenatal long-term but not short-term exposure to mobile phone lead to cognitive impairment, morphological changes in the hippocampal cells, reduced synaptic number, decreased SYN, PSD-95, and BDNF expression in elderly offspring, which were alleviated by postnatal EE housing. These findings suggest that prenatal long-term mobile phone exposure may pose life-long adverse effects on elderly offspring and impair cognition by disrupting the synaptic plasticity, which may be reversed by postnatal EE housing. Open access paper: frontiersin.org

Machine Enhanced Logic

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 directionmixed

PopulationPregnant rats and their elderly offspring rats

Sample sizeNot supplied

Exposureprenatal short-term or long-term cell phone exposure

Evidence strengthLowConfidence: 74% · Peer reviewed: yes

Main findings

Outcomes measured

Spatial learning and memory (Morris water maze)
Hippocampal cellular morphology (hematoxylin-eosin staining)
Synaptic ultrastructure/synaptic number (transmission electron microscopy)
Synaptophysin (SYN) expression
Postsynaptic density-95 (PSD-95) expression
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression

Limitations

No exposure parameters reported in abstract (e.g., frequency, SAR, field strength)
Sample size not reported in abstract
Details of randomization/blinding not reported in abstract
Duration definitions for “short-term” vs “long-term” not provided in abstract

View raw extracted JSON

{
  "study_type": "animal",
  "exposure": {
    "band": null,
    "source": "mobile phone",
    "frequency_mhz": null,
    "sar_wkg": null,
    "duration": "prenatal short-term or long-term cell phone exposure"
  },
  "population": "Pregnant rats and their elderly offspring rats",
  "sample_size": null,
  "outcomes": [
    "Spatial learning and memory (Morris water maze)",
    "Hippocampal cellular morphology (hematoxylin-eosin staining)",
    "Synaptic ultrastructure/synaptic number (transmission electron microscopy)",
    "Synaptophysin (SYN) expression",
    "Postsynaptic density-95 (PSD-95) expression",
    "Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression"
  ],
  "main_findings": "Prenatal long-term (but not short-term) mobile phone exposure was associated with cognitive impairment in elderly rat offspring, along with hippocampal morphological changes, reduced synaptic number, and decreased SYN, PSD-95, and BDNF expression. Enriched environment housing during adulthood alleviated these changes.",
  "effect_direction": "mixed",
  "limitations": [
    "No exposure parameters reported in abstract (e.g., frequency, SAR, field strength)",
    "Sample size not reported in abstract",
    "Details of randomization/blinding not reported in abstract",
    "Duration definitions for “short-term” vs “long-term” not provided in abstract"
  ],
  "evidence_strength": "low",
  "confidence": 0.74,
  "peer_reviewed_likely": "yes",
  "keywords": [
    "prenatal exposure",
    "mobile phone",
    "electromagnetic radiation",
    "rats",
    "aging",
    "cognition",
    "Morris water maze",
    "hippocampus",
    "synaptic plasticity",
    "enriched environment",
    "synaptophysin",
    "PSD-95",
    "BDNF"
  ],
  "suggested_hubs": [
    {
      "slug": "animal-studies",
      "weight": 0.9,
      "reason": "Experimental study in rats assessing prenatal mobile phone exposure and later-life cognitive/brain outcomes."
    }
  ]
}

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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: 10.3389/fnagi.2020.00162
PubMed: Not supplied

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