Cell Phones Affect Memory Loss in Lab Animals

Cell phone radiation leads to memory loss, at least according to rat experiments in Lund University, Sweden. The study shows that rats exposed to cell phone radiation for two hours a week for more than a year did poorly on a memory test compared to rats that had not been exposed.

The research team believes this could be related to earlier findings that microwave radiation from cell phones can affect the so-called blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier protects the brain by preventing substances circulating in the blood from penetrating into the brain tissue and damaging nerve cells. An earlier study had found that albumin, a protein that functions as a transport molecule in the blood, leaks into brain tissue when lab animals are exposed to cell phone radiation.

The researchers also found certain nerve damage in the form of damaged nerve cells in the cerebral cortex and in the hippocampus, the memory center of the brain. You can read more details of this study here.