Long-Term Evolution Electromagnetic Fields Exposure Modulates the Resting State EEG on Alpha and Beta Bands

Abstract

Long-term evolution (LTE) wireless telecommunication systems are widely used globally, which has raised a concern that exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted from LTE devices can change human neural function. To date, few studies have been conducted on the effect of exposure to LTE EMF. Here, we evaluated the changes in electroencephalogram (EEG) due to LTE EMF exposure. An LTE EMF exposure system with a stable power emission, which was equivalent to the maximum emission from an LTE mobile phone, was used to radiate the subjects. Numerical simulations were conducted to ensure that the specific absorption rate in the subject's head was below the safety limits. Exposure to LTE EMF reduced the spectral power and the interhemispheric coherence in the alpha and beta bands of the frontal and temporal brain regions. No significant change was observed in the spectral power and the inter-hemispheric coherence in different timeslots during and after the exposure. These findings also corroborated those of our previous study using functional magnetic resonant imaging.

Effect of acute exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields emitted by a mobile phone (GSM 900 MHz) on electrodermal responsiveness in healthy human

“…Very few studies have examined EDA under mobile phone (MP) exposure; however, several studies on the effect of EMF on EEG have shown a consistent effect of MP on the EEG by increasing or decreasing alpha (8-13 Hz) power (Reiser et al, 1995;Croft et al, 2002;Huber et al, 2002;Karamenko et al, 2003;Cook et al, 2004;Curcio et al, 2005;Maby et al, 2006;Perentos et al, 2007;Regel et al, 2007;Vecchio et al, 2007;Hinrikus et al, 2008;Vecchio et al, 2012;Perentos et al, 2013;Ghosn et al, 2015;Yang et al, 2017).…”

Acute effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic field emitted by mobile phone on brain function

“…It should be noted that one study assessed not only the effect of phone use, but also the mixed effect of caffeine and simultaneous MP exposure. Typically, double/single blind randomized counterbalanced crossover design was used [Lowden et al, ; Volkow et al, ; Curcio et al, ; Schmid et al, ,; Vecchio et al, ; Loughran et al, ; Lv et al, ; Ghosn et al, ; Roggeveen et al, ; Yang et al, ], in which participants were exposed to two different conditions. In the sham condition, the MP was switched “on” but without global system for mobile communication (GSM) RF; in the real condition, the phone was switched “on” with GSM RF.…”

Modulation of resting‐state brain functional connectivity by exposure to acute fourth‐generation long‐term evolution electromagnetic field: An fMRI study

“…The inconsistency could partly be attributed to different exposure frequencies, modulation modes, and exposure durations [Zhang et al, ]. For 4G‐related signals, only our two previous studies have investigated the acute effect of long‐term evolution (LTE) EMF exposure on human brain function [Lv et al, ; Yang et al, ] using EEG and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We found that 30 min of LTE‐EMF exposure modulated the alpha/beta EEG bands [Yang et al, ] and spontaneous low‐frequency fluctuations [Lv et al, ] in some brain regions.…”

“…For 4G‐related signals, only our two previous studies have investigated the acute effect of long‐term evolution (LTE) EMF exposure on human brain function [Lv et al, ; Yang et al, ] using EEG and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We found that 30 min of LTE‐EMF exposure modulated the alpha/beta EEG bands [Yang et al, ] and spontaneous low‐frequency fluctuations [Lv et al, ] in some brain regions. Since LTE networks have been widely deployed, we should make more effort to evaluate the possible effects of LTE‐EMF exposure from different perspectives.…”

“…Functional segregation (or local integration) emphasizes distributed processing within different brain regions, whereas functional integration (or global integration) stresses long‐range interactions across regions [Sporns et al, ; Park and Friston, ]. Previous neurophysiological studies have observed that EMF‐induced changes in brain activity occur not only in the region near the exposure site but also in remote regions and even in contralateral brain regions [Croft et al, ; Lv et al, ; Roggeveen et al, ; Yang et al, ]. This phenomenon of remote effects inspired us to investigate whether EMF exposure modulated functional integration between different brain regions.…”