Authors:
Irmawan Farindra
1
;
Viskasari P. Kalanjati
2
and
Ni Wajan Tirthaningsih
2
Affiliations:
1
Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga and
Jl. Prof Moestopo 47 Surabaya 60132, Indonesia
;
2
Department of Anatomy and Histology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya and Indonesia, Indonesia
Keyword(s):
Aluminium foil, electromagnetic radiation, mobile phone, brain, malondialdehyde.
Abstract:
Abstract: Mobile phones are among the main sources of electromagnetic radiation (EMR). Increased use of mobile phones with internet access in daily life might increase the adverse effects of EMR as one of the oxidative stressors to the human body. Thus, protection against EMR exposure from mobile phones is required; aluminium foil (AF) is one of the proposed materials due to its EMR absorption loss and reflective loss potency. This study aimed to investigate the effect of AF shielding against EMR emitted from mobile phones shown by the malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in the cerebra of adult male Wistar rats. Thirty-two adult male rats were divided into 4 groups (n=8). Group I was the control group without AF or EMR, group II was the control group given the AF only, group III was treated with EMR, and group IV was treated with EMR with an AF shield. Each animal was placed in a plastic box container sized 20 x 16 x 9 cm with a fencing wire cover. A mobile phone (GSM 2100 MHz; SAR 0.84-1.8
6 W/kg) was taped to the inner floor of this plastic box container. The AF shield had a thickness of 2 mm and covered the mobile phone. The exposure was 4 h/day for 30 days. The MDA levels of the right hemisphere of the cerebrum were measured with a spectrophotometer. Data were analyzed with significance level of p < 0.05. The MDA levels in group III were significantly higher when compared to the others. The MDA levels in group IV were significantly lower when compared to group III. The AF here might have acted as a shield against EMR from the mobile phone and was likely to have reduced the oxidative stress effect of the EMR on the exposed rats’ cerebra; this could be shown by the lower levels of the MDA in the shielded subjects compared to the unshielded controls.
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