Cell Phones and Blood-Brain Barrier: Chinese scientists confirm findings of Swedish Salford group

Post published on May 18, 2015 @ 10:00AM and updated @ 1:20PM

Chinese scientists, from the group of Gang Zhu, apparently confirmed, and expanded on, findings of Swedish group of Leif Salford but… nobody is talking about it…

Leif Salford, neurosurgeon at Lund University Hospital in Sweden, and his research team published several studies showing that exposure of rats to cell phone radiation causes leakage of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and impairs cognition:

• Increased blood-brain barrier permeability in mammalian brain 7 days after exposure to the radiation from a GSM-900 mobile phone. Nittby H, Brun A, Eberhardt J, Malmgren L, Persson BR, Salford LG. Pathophysiology. 2009 Aug;16(2-3):103-12.
• Cognitive impairment in rats after long-term exposure to GSM-900 mobile phone radiation. Nittby H, Grafström G, Tian DP, Malmgren L, Brun A, Persson BR, Salford LG, Eberhardt J. Bioelectromagnetics. 2008 Apr;29(3):219-32.
• Exposure of rat brain to 915 MHz GSM microwaves induces changes in gene expression but not double stranded DNA breaks or effects on chromatin conformation. Belyaev IY, Koch CB, Terenius O, Roxström-Lindquist K, Malmgren LO, H Sommer W, Salford LG, Persson BR. Bioelectromagnetics. 2006 May;27(4):295-306.
• Permeability of the blood-brain barrier induced by 915 MHz electromagnetic radiation, continuous wave and modulated at 8, 16, 50, and 200 Hz. Salford LG, Brun A, Sturesson K, Eberhardt JL, Persson BR. Microsc Res Tech. 1994 Apr 15;27(6):535-42.

In a study published in 2009, Patrick Mason and his co-workers from the Air Force Research Laboratory at the Brooks City-Base, TX, USA, have failed to replicate observations from Salford’s group.

• Radiofrequency-radiation exposure does not induce detectable leakage of albumin across the blood-brain barrier. McQuade JM, Merritt JH, Miller SA, Scholin T, Cook MC, Salazar A, Rahimi OB, Murphy MR, Mason PA. Radiat Res. 2009 May;171(5):615-21.

This year, well recognized and established journal – Brain Research – published in March 2015 issue an article from the scientists at the Department of Neurosurgery, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, China:

• Exposure to 900 MHz electromagnetic fields activates the mkp-1/ERK pathway and causes blood-brain barrier damage and cognitive impairment in rats.Tang J, Zhang Y, Yang L, Chen Q, Tan L, Zuo S, Feng H, Chen Z, Zhu G.Brain Res. 2015 Mar 19;1601:92-101.

In this study, Gang Zhu and collaborating scientists have confirmed findings of Leif Salford and colleagues. Furthermore, they pointed out that activation of stress response pathway is involved in the effects. Here is the final conclusion quoted from the abstract:

“Taken together, these results demonstrated that exposure to 900 MHz EMF radiation for 28 days can significantly impair spatial memory and damage BBB permeability in rat by activating the mkp-1/ERK pathway.“

Abstract and figures of this study are freely available on website of the Brain Research. For pdf copies of the article, you may contact Gang Zhu at gangzhu6666@sina.com.

Post scriptum

My research group at STUK also suggested in a study published in 2002 that blood-brain barrier function of human endothelial cells might be impaired due to activation of p38MAP kinase/Hsp27 stress response pathway:

• Non-thermal activation of the hsp27/p38MAPK stress pathway by mobile phone radiation in human endothelial cells: molecular mechanism for cancer- and blood-brain barrier-related effects. Leszczynski D, Joenväärä S, Reivinen J, Kuokka R. Differentiation. 2002 May;70(2-3):120-9

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