Microwave‐specific heating affects gene expression

Abstract

The effects of low-level microwave radiation on gene expression in Escherichia coli have been examined in a sensitive model. We confirm the previously reported existence of an increase in beta-galactosidase expression by microwave radiation--an increase not duplicated by bulk heating. However, the effect was not frequency dependent and appeared to be due to heating effects peculiar to microwaves. These results indicate that small thermal gradients may be a source of biological effects of non-ionizing radiation.

Plasma membrane temperature gradients and multiple cell permeabilization induced by low peak power density femtosecond lasers

“…Future experiments could focus on developing interferometry systems to measure these rapid membrane temperature gradients. The importance of ∇ T for laser-induced results resembles that for microwave-induced phenomena [39] , [40] , [41] , [42] . Potential mechanisms may include electropermeabilization due to a ∇ T induced membrane voltage [38] , direct electropermeabilization by the laser’s electric field, a temperature-induced reduction of the electropermeabilization threshold, or some synergistic combination of these factors.…”

“…The first experimental effects of ∇ T in biological samples were observed previously during microwave exposures. Greater absorption of microwave energy in the extracellular fluid [39] creates ∇ T that may induce various physiological responses, without bulk heating [40] , [41] , such as membrane permeabilization [40] , or that are irreproducible with convection heating alone [42] .…”

Recent Biological Studies Relevant to Carcinogenesis

“…No effect of frequency was obvious, and the reported effects appeared to persist over a relatively long time. It should be noted, however, that RF radiation at 2.55 GHz has been reported to alter gene expression in a bacterial system by a mechanism which was apparently thermal in nature, despite a gross temperature rise of only 0.1 °C (Saffer and Profenno, 1992). Hence any reports of altered transcription following exposure at high SARs should be treated with caution.…”

The Influence of Electromagnetic Pollution on Living Organisms: Historical Trends and Forecasting Changes

“…An increased secretion of beta-galactosidase as a result of electromagnetic radiation was described in [71, 75], which was associated by the authors with small variations in temperature at the cellular level. Moreover, in [76] the energy of ELF electromagnetic radiation was characterised as a factor intensifying changes in E. coli metabolism induced by a temperature increase.…”

“…It is worth noting that Caenorhabditis elegans is transparent at every stage of its life, which allows for easy investigation and observation of all phenomena taking place in its body such as mitosis and cytokinesis. Furthermore the entire lineage of every cell in Caenorhabditis elegans during its embryonic development and postembryo was also described in detail by Sulston [75, 84]. This fact allows the continuation of investigations and observations of the mutated nematode phenotype at the single cell level [80].…”