RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Effects of cell phone radiofrequency signal exposure on brain glucose metabolism
JF Journal of Nuclear Medicine
JO J Nucl Med
FD Society of Nuclear Medicine
SP 60
OP 60
VO 52
IS supplement 1
A1 Volkow, Nora
A1 Tomasi, Dardo
A1 Wang, Gene-Jack
A1 Vaska, Paul
A1 Fowler, Joanna
A1 Telang, Frank
A1 Alexoff, David
A1 Logan, Jean
A1 Wong, Christopher
YR 2011
UL http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/52/supplement_1/60.abstract
AB 60 Objectives The dramatic increase in cell phone use has generated concern about possible negative effects of cell phone radiofrequency signals on the human brain. However the extent to which acute cell phone exposures affect the human brain is still unclear. Here we evaluate if acute cell phone exposure affects brain glucose metabolism, which is a marker of brain activity. Methods and 18FDG were used to measure brain glucose metabolism in 48 healthy subjects twice, once with cell phone on right ear activated for 50 minutes (ON with sound muted) and once with cell phone OFF. Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) analyses were performed to compare metabolism between ON and OFF conditions using paired t-tests and to perform regression analysis with the estimated radiofrequencies. Results Metabolism was significantly higher with than without cell phone exposure in the brain region closest to the antenna, which was located in the lower orbitofrontal cortex and temporal pole (ON: 35.7 ±0.9 micromol/100 grams/min; OFF: 33.4 ±1 micromol/100 grams/min); SPM Pc <0.05). The increases were significantly correlated with intensities of the estimated electromagnetic field amplitude in the radiofrequency bandwidth of the phones both for absolute (r=0.63, P <0.0001) and normalized metabolism (r=0.91; P <0.0001). Interestingly, accumulated monthly cell phone exposure correlated positively with normalized metabolism (OFF condition) in these same regions. Conclusions Our results give evidence that the human brain is sensitive to the acute effects of radiofrequencies (and perhaps also chronic) emitted from cell phones. The dependency to the distance from the antenna suggests that the use of a wired ear-piece would prevent this effect. Research Support Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Healt