The effect of a high frequency electromagnetic field in the microwave range on red blood cells

Abstract

The effect of red blood cells (RBC) exposed to an 18 GHz electromagnetic field (EMF) was studied. The results of this study demonstrated for the first time that exposure of RBCs to 18 GHz EMF has the capacity to induce nanospheres uptake in RBCs. The uptake of nanospheres (loading efficiency 96% and 46% for 23.5 and 46.3 nm nanospheres respectively), their presence and locality were confirmed using three independent techniques, namely scanning electron microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. It appeared that 23.5 nm nanospheres were translocated through the membrane into the cytosol, while the 46.3 nm-nanospheres were mostly translocated through the phospholipid-cholesterol bilayer, with only some of these nanospheres passing the 2D cytoskeleton network. The nanospheres uptake increased by up to 12% with increasing temperature from 33 to 37 °C. The TEM analysis revealed that the nanospheres were engulfed by the cell membrane itself, and then translocated into the cytosol. It is believed that EMF-induced rotating water dipoles caused disturbance of the membrane, initiating its deformation and result in an enhanced degree of membrane trafficking via a quasi-exocytosis process.

Microwave Induced Electroporation of Adherent Mammalian Cells at 18 GHz

“…Besides using higher frequencies, the main difference to conventional electroporation in [14], [15], is the lower electric field strength which was reported to be a key factor for enhancing the cell viability accordingly. As a consequence, knowing the exact value of the electric field strength directly at the transducer is important to assess the experiment.…”

“…Higher field strengths increase the uptake efficiency with the drawback of reducing the cell viability. In contrast to conventional electroporation recently, successful electroporation with significantly lower field strength at microwave frequencies (18 GHz) was reported [14], [15], [16]. In [14], cw signals instead of pulses were used to transfect Gram-positive cocci.…”

“…A temporary morphological change was monitored after microwave treatment in comparison to a control test under the same thermal conditions. In [15] permeabilization of red blood cells (which are cultured in suspension) with a cell viability of up to 94% was shown at 18 GHz. All above mentioned publications have in common that they use continuous wave microwave fields at 18 GHz, with a dramatically reduced field strength (≈ 300 V/m) and high viability rates.…”

Biochemical, Molecular and Mutagenic Effects of Electromagnetic Fields on Vicia faba L. Seedlings

“…Biochemical, Molecular and Mutagenic Effects of Electromagnetic Fields on Vicia faba L. Seedlings REDA M. GAAFAR et al some epidemiological studies have revealed that exposure to EMFs increases the risk of diseases such as leukemia particularly among children (Kheifets et al, 2005). Nguyen et al (2017) studied the effects of EMF on red blood cells and they reported that EMF induces rotating water dipoles caused disturbance of the membrane, initiating its deformation and result in an enhanced degree of membrane trafficking via a quasi-exocytosis process. The relationship between EMFs and various cancer types has also been demonstrated in other studies (Floderus et al, 1993;Dockerty et al, 1998 andZhu et al, 2003).…”

“…Other model organisms including animals, plants and microorganisms have been employed to explore the possible potential effects of EMF on humans (Rajendra et al, 2005;Pinar et al, 2010;Rajendra et al, 2012 andNguyen et al, 2017). Various studies revealed that several types of biological effects of EMFs were observed at cellular levels.…”