Figure 2. RF-EMR exposure reduces motility and vitality of human spermatozoa, in an SAR dependent manner.

Percoll-purified spermatozoa (5×10⁶ cells) were suspended in 1 ml BWW in a 35 mm Petri dish and placed within the waveguide while control cells (closed circles) were placed outside the waveguide. Cells in the waveguide were exposed to 1.8 GHz RF-EMR at SAR levels of 0.4, 1.0 2.8 4.3 10.1 and 27.5 W/kg (open circles) for 16 h at 21°C. Both vitality and motility were reduced in a dose dependent manner. A, Vitality was significantly reduced at a SAR of 1.0 W/kg from 89%±3% to 65%±1% (**p<0.01). B, Motility was also significantly reduced at a SAR of 1.0 W/kg from 86%±2% to 68%±2% (*p<0.05). All results are based on 4 independent samples.