http://informahealthcare.com/txm ISSN: 1537-6516 (print), 1537-6524 (electronic) Toxicol Mech Methods, 2014; 24(5): 347–352 ! 2014 Informa Healthcare USA, Inc. DOI: 10.3109/15376516.2014.910852 RESEARCH ARTICLE Vitamin C protects rat cerebellum and encephalon from oxidative stress following exposure to radiofrequency wave generated by a BTS antenna model Abolfazl Akbari 1 , Gholamali Jelodar 1 , and Saeed Nazifi 2 1 Department of Physiology and 2 Department of Clinical Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran Abstract Radio frequency wave (RFW) generated by base transceiver station has been reported to produce deleterious effects on the central nervous system function, possibly through oxidative stress. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of RFW-induced oxidative stress in the cerebellum and encephalon and the prophylactic effect of vitamin C on theses tissues by measuring the antioxidant enzymes activity, including: glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, catalase, and malondialdehyde (MDA). Thirty-two adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four equal groups. The control group; the control-vitamin C group received L-ascorbic acid (200 mg/kg of body weight/day by gavage) for 45 days. The RFW group was exposed to RFW and the RFW+ vitamin C group was exposed to RFW and received vitamin C. At the end of the experiment, all groups were killed and encephalon and cerebellum of all rats were removed and stored at 70  C for measurement of antioxidant enzymes activity and MDA. The results indicate that exposure to RFW in the test group decreased antioxidant enzymes activity and increased MDA compared with the control groups (p50.05). The protective role of vitamin C in the treated group improved antioxidant enzymes activity and reduced MDA compared with the test group (p50.05). It can be concluded that RFW causes oxidative stress in the brain and vitamin C improves the antioxidant enzymes activity and decreases MDA. Keywords BTS, cerebellum, encephalon, oxidative stress, vitamin C History Received 11 December 2013 Revised 26 March 2014 Accepted 28 March 2014 Published online 25 April 2014 Introduction In the previous investigations, it was shown that non-thermal microwave exposure is able to induce several changes at the DNA level (Lai & Singh, 1996), alteration of heat shock proteins (Simko ´ et al., 2006), and increased permeability in blood–brain barrier (Salford & Brun, 2003). Reports of potential adverse effects of radio frequency wave (RFW) on the heart (Braune et al., 1998), brain (Huber et al., 2000), eye (Jelodar et al., 2013a), testis (Jelodar et al., 2013b), liver and kidney (Akbari et al., 2013), epididymal sperm (Jelodar et al., 2012), the endocrine system (Burch et al., 1998; Jelodar et al., 2011a), hematological parameters and bone marrow (Jelodar et al., 2011b) are available. The roles of RFWs in the etiology of brain disorder have been debated in the last decades. Exposure to radio frequency fields emitted by mobile telephones (which operate between 400 and 2000 MHz frequency bands) and their base transceiver stations (BTSs) has become a major concern to the public regarding the possible adverse effect of high-frequency EMF on human health. The effect of exposure to RFWs (especially RFWs emitted from mobile phone) on the brain has been reported in human and animals (Croft et al., 2002; Huber et al., 2000; Ilhan et al., 2004; Kabuto et al., 2001; Salford & Brun, 2003). Numerous studies have demonstrated an increase in the reactive oxygen species (ROS) level and oxidative damage in the central nervous system is linked to a number of diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders such as the Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Butterfield et al., 2010; Quilty et al., 2006). L-Ascorbic acid is a six-carbon lactone ring structure with 2, 3-enediol moiety. The antioxidant activity of ascorbic acid comes from 2, 3-enediol (Lee et al., 2004). Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, acts outside and within the cell, provides a protective effect against several diseases, including oxidative imbalances arising from various causes in the brain and other tissues (Imge et al., 2010; Jelodar et al., 2013a,b; Rekha et al., 2011), also, vitamin C acts as a pro- oxidant, depending on the environment in which the molecule is present. Intracellular vitamin C concentrations in the low millimolar range (much higher than that in plasma) seem to be necessary to support its role as an antioxidant. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of 900MHz RFWs on antioxidant enzymes activity and the malondialdehyde Address for correspondence: Dr G. A. Jelodar, Professor of Physiology, Department of Basic Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, P. O. Box 71345, Shiraz 71345, Iran. Tel: +987116138757. Fax: +9871122866940. E-mail: jelodar@shirazu.ac.ir