Advances in Biology & Earth Sciences

The study is devoted to the identification of changes in the leukocyte formula of offspring from mothers exposed to non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation of the decimeter wavelength range at different stages of pregnancy. The experiments were conducted on20 and30-day-old pups that were exposed to the prenatal effects of 460MHz EMR during the embryonic, pre-fetal and fetal stages corresponding to 1-6, 7-16and 17-21days of pregnancy. The radiation power flux density was 30µW/cm² and the calculated specific absorption rate averaged the whole body was 15mW/kg. In all three experimental subgroups of two age groups of rat pups, designated as embryonic, pre-fetal and fetal, an increased percentage of lymphocytes and a reduced percentage of monocytes and neutrophils were shown in relation to the corresponding control subgroups. In all three experimental subgroups of two age groups of rats, designated as embryonic, pre-fetal and fetal, an increased percentage of lymphocytes (for20-day-old rats in the subgroups by 16.7%,15.9%, 13.9% at p<0.001 and 30-day-old - 5.0%,23.7% at p<0.01, 24.0% at p<0.001) and a reduced percentage of monocytes (for20-day-old rats by subgroups by 73.7%at p<0.05,94.2% at p<0.001, 73.7% at p<0.01 and 30-day-old rats - 21.6%, 42.8%at p<0.05,52.3% at p<0.01) were shown. Neutrophils of both types were not detected in the embryonic subgroup of 20-day-old rats and low levels were observed in the other two subgroups compared to the control subgroups. In 30-day-old rats in the embryonic subgroup, both segmented and band neutrophils exceed the control level by 17.9%(p<0.001) and 100%(p<0.001), respectively. The age difference was that by the age of 30 days, the level of deviations from the control in the embryonic subgroup was mitigated, unlike in the other two subgroups- pre-fetal and fetal. The exception is an increased percentage of neutrophils (both segmented and bond) in 30-day-old rats exposed during the embryonic period. By the age of 30 days, no metamyelocytes were detected in the blood of prenatally irradiated rat pups and prolymphocytes are less likely to appear in pups irradiated during the fetal period of prenatal development (0.14±0.14%, p>0.05). The leukocyte formula in the offspring of rats exposed to non-ionizing EMR during intrauterine development is generally characterized by lymphocytosis, monocytopenia and neutropenia, partially dependent on the period of exposure to EMR, which, apparently, can be considered typical for chronic exposure to this physical factor.