Ultrawideband radiation and pentylenetetrazol-induced convulsions in rats

New non-ionizing pulsed systems using ultrawideband (UWB) require safety as sessment before they can be used by either military or civilian communities . Tnt: development of directed energy weaponry intended for use against ele ctronically vulnerable targets, as well as ground-probing radar systems, ha ve used fast-rise-time high-peak-power electromagnetic pubes characteristic of UWB emitters. It has been postulated that these ultrashort pulses might produce electromagnetic transients resulting in tissue damage. Several cha llenges to this notion have been posed, however. One report found that rats exposed to UWB after receiving a convulsant drug tended toward longer late ncy to the onset of convulsions than the no-exposure group. Although not st atistically significant, the presence of this trend prompted the present st udy. An ED,, dose of the convulsant pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) or saline was g iven just before UWB or sham exposure and resultant seizure activity was re corded. The data from the current study show no effect of UWB exposure on P TZ-induced seizure activity, thereby not supporting the tissue damage conce rns, at least for the exposure parameters used here. Published 1999 Wiley-L iss, Inc.dagger.