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Dose‐response relationship between body temperature and birth defects in radiofrequency‐irradiated rats
Author(s) -
Lary Joseph M.,
Conover David L.,
Johnson Peggy H.,
Hornung Richard W.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
bioelectromagnetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.435
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-186X
pISSN - 0197-8462
DOI - 10.1002/bem.2250070205
Subject(s) - gestation , irradiation , specific absorption rate , medicine , incidence (geometry) , zoology , pregnancy , chemistry , nuclear medicine , biology , physics , telecommunications , genetics , computer science , nuclear physics , antenna (radio) , optics
Five groups of pregnant Sprague‐Dawley rats were irradiated for 10–40 min on gestation day 9 in a 27.12‐MHz radiofrequency field at a magnetic field strength of 55 A/m and an electric field strength of 300 V/m. The specific absorption rate was 10.8 ± 0.3 W/kg. Exposures were terminated after the rat's colonic temperature reached 41.0°C, 41.5°C, 42.0°C, 42.5°C, or 43.0°C. A control group was sham irradiated at 0 A/m and 0 V/m on gestation day 9, whereas a second control group was untreated. The incidence of both birth defects and prenatal death was directly related to maternal body temperature once a temperature threshold was exceeded. The temperature threshold for both types of effects was approximately 41.5°C. A few pregnant rats died after exposure to 43.0°C, and higher temperatures were nearly always lethal.