Measurement of blood-brain barrier permeation in rats during exposure to 2450-MHz microwaves.

Adult rats anesthesized with pentobarbital and injected intravenously with a mixture of [14C] sucrose and [3H] insulin were exposed for 30 min to an environment at an ambient temperature of 22, 30, or 40 degrees C, or were exposed at 22 degrees C to 2450-MHz CW microwave radiation at power densities of 0, 10, 20, or 30 mW/cm2. Following exposure, the brain was perfused and sectioned into eight regions, and the radioactivity in each region was counted. The data were analyzed by two methods. First, the data for each of the eight regions and for each of the two radioactive tracers were analyzed by regression analysis for a total of 16 analyses and Bonferroni's Inequality was applied to prevent false positive results from numerous analyses. By this conservative test, no statistically significant increase in permeation was found for either tracer in any brain region of rats exposed to microwaves. Second, a profile analysis was used for a general change in tracer uptake across all brain regions. Using this statistical method, a significant increase in permeation was found for sucrose but not for inulin. A correction factor was then derived from the warm-air experiments to correct for the increase in permeation of the brain associated with change in body temperature. This correction factor was applied to the data for the irradiated animals. After correcting the data for thermal effects of the microwave radiation, no significant increase in permeation was found.