Effects of 900MHz electromagnetic field on TSH and thyroid hormones in rats

Koyu A, Cesur G, Ozguner F, Akdogan M, Mollaoglu H, Ozen S.

Toxicol Lett. 157(3):257-262, 2005

In this study, the effects of exposure to a 900megahertz (MHz) electromagnetic field (EMF) on serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and triiodothronine-thyroxin (T(3)-T(4)) hormones levels of adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were studied.

Thirty rats were used in three independent groups, 10 of which were control (without stress and EMF), 10 of which were exposed to 900MHz EMF and 10 of which were sham-exposed. The exposures were performed 30min/day, for 5days/week for 4 weeks to 900MHz EMF. Sham-exposed animals were kept under the same environmental conditions as the study groups except with no EMF exposure.

The concentration of TSH and T(3)-T(4) hormones in the rat serum was measured by using an immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) method for TSH and a radio-immunoassay (RIA) method for T(3) and T(4) hormones.

TSH values and T(3)-T(4) at the 900MHz EMF group were significantly lower than the sham-exposed group (p<0.01). There were no statistically significant differences in serum TSH values and T(3)-T(4) hormone concentrations between the control and the sham-exposed group (p>0.05).

These results indicate that 900MHz EMF emitted by cellular telephones decrease serum TSH and T(3)-T(4) levels.