Translocation of silica nanospheres through giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) induced by a high frequency electromagnetic field

Abstract

Membrane model systems capable of mimicking live cell membranes were used for the first time in studying the effects arising from electromagnetic fields (EMFs) of 18 GHz where membrane permeability was observed following exposure.

Translocation and fate of nanospheres in pheochromocytoma cells following exposure to synchrotron-sourced terahertz radiation

“…Few other cell types and biological systems including in vivo models have been studied (Jhawar et al, 2022); one study demonstrated that exposure to 0.72 THz for 60 min resulted in changes of adhesion and axon structure in lymnaea stagnalis neurons (Perera et al, 2019a). In another study, human dermal fibroblasts exposed to continuous THz radiation from an optically pumped molecular gas THz laser source (2.52 THz, 227 mW cm À2 ) for up to 80 min were shown to be 90% viable (Perera et al, 2019b;Nguyen et al, 2017;Tharushi Perera et al, 2021). When exposed to the narrow-band THz radiation (2.3 THz, 1.4 W cm À2 ), human embryonic stem cells showed no structural chromosomal aberrations or difference in cell morphology when compared with the untreated control, and only some minor up-regulations of mitochondria-related genes were reported (Nguyen et al, 2015).…”

“…Microwave irradiation at a fixed frequency of 18 GHz has also been studied in eukaryotes, red blood cells (Nguyen et al, 2017), model lipid membranes (Tharushi Perera et al, 2021) and prokaryotes (Nguyen et al, 2015;Shamis et al, 2012a,b). Reversible membrane permeability was reported in PC 12 cells (Perera et al, 2018), confirmed via the localization of Si core-shell Au NS .…”

Genetic Transformation of Plasmid DNA into Escherichia coli Using High Frequency Electromagnetic Energy

“…47,49−51 In our earlier work, we studied the biological effects arising from exposure to 18 GHz in a model membrane system and reported that a phospholipid bilayer labeled with a fluorescent marker exhibited internalization of silica nanospheres. 30 Allatom molecular simulations revealed that when biological membranes were exposed to HF EME of different strengths only the high strength fields were able to cause an increase in the interfacial water dynamics as characterized by water dipole realignments, 30 which, for example, were achieved using a pulsed microwave radiation device delivering a field of 8 kV/ cm at 3.5 GHz with a power density of 17 kV/cm 2 . 51 It was hypothesized that EME directly interacted with polar molecules on the bacterial cell surface, causing changes in cell morphology, which led to failure of the intracellular oxidative defense machinery and DNA damage-mediated inactivation of bacterial cells.…”

Electromagnetic bioeffects: a multiscale molecular simulation perspective

“…178 The mechanisms responsible for membrane permeabilisation, and structural or dynamic changes imparted on biomolecules by high-frequency (18 GHz) electromagnetic irradiation were recently explored using experimental and computational techniques. 59 This work suggested that the EMF-induced oscillations, i.e. , vibrations and reorientation of water molecules (dipoles) may be able to induce liposome bilayer permeability without affecting their integrity, thus presenting opportunities in applications of EMF for transporting therapeutics to and across live cell membranes.…”

“…All-atom inclusive models simulated by MD enable direct insight into the fundamental EF effects on molecular processes, structure, and dynamics of biological molecules (water, DNA, peptides/proteins, lipid membranes) and materials (nanoparticles, organic and inorganic surfaces) in physiological conditions at spatial and temporal resolutions currently inaccessible by laboratory techniques, and as such have proven to be highly complementary to the experimental efforts in this area. 17,58,59 MD is well suited for studying entropically driven processes, which involve significant changes in the configurations of the system ( e.g. conformations, solvent orientations) over multiple degrees of freedom.…”