The effects of low power microwaves at 500 MHz and 900 MHz on yeast cells growth

Abstract

In the last few decades, the use of microwave radiation has greatly increased in radar and communication systems, food-processing technology and medical ¯eld. Development of consumer and medical microwave devices for clinical diagnosis and therapy has also prompted widespread interest and stimulated much research into the mechanisms of interaction between microwave radiation and living matter. Two types of e®ects can be ascribed to microwaves, i.e., thermal and non-thermal. Non-thermal biological e®ects are measurable changes in biological systems that may or may not be associated with adverse health e®ects. It was shown that low power microwaves can a®ect enzymes activities. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms involved in putative non-thermal e®ects. One hypothesis is that low power microwave radiation can induce dipole oscillations in a protein's active site and thus, can alter its function. This study evaluates the e®ect of low power microwave radiation on the proliferation rate of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains type II, which were exposed to the microwaves at the frequencies of 500MHz and 900MHz and the selected powers of 0 dBm, 10 dBm, ¡10 dBm, 13 dBm, ¡13 dBm, 17dBm and ¡17dBm using the Transverse Electro-Magnetic (TEM) cell. The average speci¯c absorption rate (SAR) for a single cell was 0.12 W/kg. SAR was calculated by averaging the individual parameters of the cell components in accordance with their volume fraction in live cells. A comparative analysis of changes in the proliferation rate of the irradiated vs. non- radiated yeast cells was performed for the selected frequencies and powers, with the results being presented and discussed