Nitric oxide plays an important role in many physiologic processes in the body including vasoregulation, hemostasis, neurotransmission, respiration and immune defense. High nitric oxide levels were found in paranasal sinuses and it was thought that a decreased concentration of nitric oxide might contribute to the pathogenesis of sinusitis.
The rats were randomly grouped: group 1: EMF exposure; group 2: EMF and melatonin application; group 3: control group.
|Chamber||The exposure system consisted of a ventilated plastic tube cage (length 12 cm; diameter 5.5 cm) and a half-wave dipole antenna.|
|Setup||The whole bodies of the rats were positioned in close contact above the antenna (near field).|
|Additional info||Before the EMF exposure, animals were anesthetized with pentobarbital Na. Oral melatonin (10 mg/kg) was given with water daily following the EMF exposure. Control rats were also placed in the tube, but without exposure to EMF.|
Exposure to EMF released by mobile phones (900 MHz) significantly increased the nitric oxide levels of nasal and paranasal sinus mucosa. However, there was no statistically significant difference between group 2 (EMF and melatonin) and the control group regarding nitric oxide output. Increased nitric oxide levels may act as a defense mechanism and presumably related to tissue damage. In addition, melatonin may have beneficial effect to prevent these changes in the mucosa.