Effect of mobile phone signals on electrical impulses of myelinated nerve fibres

One of the seldom studied effects of mobile phone radiation is its impact on impulse transmission in nerve fibers. Effects could be; although unlikely, stimulation of a nerve pulse, change in depolarization threshold rest potentials, conduction velocity, and energy spectrum of the impulse. To study these effects, 3D electromagnetic field distributions inside a volumetric pixel model of a human were simulated with a GSM antenna in proximity of hand. The electric field and SAR distributions due to a radiating antenna 10 mm away from hand were calculated for 0.8 W and 2 W peak pulsed GSM signals at 900 MHz. Maximum SAR in the hand was found to be 5.78 W/kg for 10 g average and 8.21 W/kg for 1g average. As the depth from skin surface increases, the probe readings can get as high as 20 mV and as low as 1 mV for 2-W peak-power transmission. Coupled signal voltage waveform along a myelinated nerve fibre was calculated and superimposed on nerve impulse at four different instances. Spectrums of the resulting impulse with and without GSM coupling were also compared to each other. The noise floor in the spectrum of the nerve impulse has increased due to presence of GSM signal. It was observed that GSM-signal coupling could distort the shape and the spectrum of the nerve impulse, but it did not reach a level to trigger an impulse from its resting potential nor perturb the nerve conduction velocity if only the induced electrical force is considered