Exposure to 1800 MHz LTE electromagnetic fields under proinflammatory conditions decreases the response strength and increases the acoustic threshold of auditory cortical neurons

Increased needs in mobile phone communications have raised successive generations (G) of wireless technologies, which could differentially affect biological systems. We have assessed how a single 2h head-only exposure to a 4G long term evolution (LTE)-1800 MHz electromagnetic field (EMF) impacts on the microglial space coverage and the electrophysiological neuronal activity in the primary auditory cortex (ACx) in rats submitted to an acute neuroinflammation induced by lipopolysaccharide. The mean specific absorption rate in the ACx was 0.5 W/kg. Multiunit recording revealed that LTE-EMF triggered reduction in the response strength to pure tones and to natural vocalizations, together with an increase in acoustic threshold in the low and medium frequencies. Iba1 immunohistochemistry showed no change in the area covered by microglia cell bodies and processes. In healthy rats, the same LTE-exposure induced no change in response strength and acoustic threshold. Our data indicate that an acute neuroinflammation sensitize neuronal responses to LTE-EMF, which leads to an altered processing of acoustic stimuli in the ACx.