Cell phones and the brain

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, July, 2002 by John D. MacArthur

Much of this intracellular signaling is mediated by free radicals. Like so many processes, enzyme kinetics are also affected by radical pair recombination rates. Research conducted at Stanford University's Department of Radiation Oncology suggests that although a magnetic field may induce only a very small change in radical pair recombination rate, "the effect on the enzyme reaction rate is considerably larger, for example, by a factor of 1 to 100." (34)

Related research by chemists at the University of Utah found that a decrease in the activity of a vitamin B12-dependent enzyme was likely caused by an applied magnetic field which changed the behavior of free radical pairs. (35)

Our Electrical Brain and Environment

Inhibitory Neurons Use Electrical Connections

Until very recently it was thought that neurons can communicate only by using chemical neurotransmitters that travel across the gaps (synapses) between them. In 1999, Brown University researchers discovered a network of inhibitory neurons able to communicate directly with one another through electrical connections -- a previously unknown type of brain circuitry.

According to neuroscience professor Barry Conners, electrical synapses may allow these neurons to generate activity over a large area of the brain. They may be acting as the brain's "pacemaker" by creating some of the brain's rhythmic electrical activity, which can be measured by an electroencephalogram (EEG).

Inhibitory neurons prevent the brain from quickly spinning out of control into hyperexcited states. Their malfunction is involved in autism and ADHD, as well as in memory disorders, neural trauma, and addictions. They also play a role in a wide range of psychiatric conditions, such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and schizophrenia.

This electric neural network is especially suited to regulating higher brain functions, explains Conners. "Most of the time it is not doing anything, but it becomes active when the brain's activity increases to a high level...and may act like the governor on the engine of the cortex, keeping excitability from running away and becoming an epileptic seizure." (36)

Researchers at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science recently discovered that inhibitory neurons are far more diverse than previously thought and have an extremely sophisticated system of controlling other neurons. They build complex synaptic connections onto thousands of neighboring neurons. These synapses then act as fast-switching "if-then" filtering gates which allow inhibition to be selectively applied -- at the exact millisecond and to the right degree. This allows a small group of inhibitory neurons to simultaneously give personal attention to the activity of each of the neurons to which they are connected. (37)

Electrical Rhythms in the Thalamus

Another newly recognized electrical aspect of the brain involves the thalamus, a crucial region that helps filter sensory information from the environment. As a communication hub, the thalamus plays a central role in the brain's ability to perceive, interpret, and respond.