vitamin c improves passive avoidance learning and memory in rats exposed to radiofrequency waves generated by a base transceiver station (bts) antenna model

Background: hazardous health effects of the exposure to radiofrequency waves (rfws) have become of great public concern and impaired memory has been reported following the exposure to electromagnetic radiations. objectives: as the deleterious effects of the rfw on passive avoidance learning and memory had already been reported, the aim of this study was to evaluate the prophylactic effect of vitamin c on this activity. methods: 20 male sprague-dawley rats (23020 g) were divided randomly into four groups as: control, control-exposed (exposed to 900 mhz rfw), control treatment (without exposure to rfw receiving 250 mg/kg of body weight/day l-ascorbic acid by gavage), and treatment (exposed to 900mhz rfw receiving the abovementioned dose of vitamin c) groups. the exposure was performed for 30 consecutive days (4 h/day). learning and memory were evaluated in the last day by the shuttle box and expressed as the period of remaining within the light area; this time was called “light time”. results: the exposure torfwsignificantly decreased the duration of light time in the control-exposed group compared to the other three groups (p< 0.05). in the fourth group, vitamin c significantly increased the light time compared to the control-exposed group (p < 0.05). no significant difference was observed between control, control treatment, and treatment groups. conclusions: exposure torfwsignificantly altered the passive avoidancebehavior. vitamincprobablydueto its antioxidant effects has facilitative results on the acquisition and retrieval activities of passive avoidance learning and memory in rats.