6-January-2010 - Cell Phone Exposure May Protect Against and Reverse Alzheimer’s Disease
Contacts:
Gary Arendash
Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center
Phone: (813) 732-9040
Email: arendash@cas.usf.edu or garendash@health.usf.edu
Anne DeLotto Baier
USF Health Public Affairs
Phone: (813) 974-3300
Email: abaier@health.usf.edu
Tampa, Florida – The millions of people who spend hours every day on a cell phone, may have a new excuse for yakking. A surprising new study in mice provides the first evidence that long-term exposure to electromagnetic waves associated with cell phone use may actually protect against, and even reverse, Alzheimer’s disease. The study, led by University of South Florida researchers at the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC), was published today in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
“It surprised us to find that cell phone exposure, begun in early adulthood, protects the memory of mice otherwise destined to develop Alzheimer’s symptoms,” said lead author Gary Arendash, PhD, Research Professor at the Florida ADRC. “It was even more astonishing that the electromagnetic waves generated by cell phones actually reversed memory impairment in old Alzheimer’s mice.”