Effects of differently polarized microwave radiation on the microscopic structure of the nuclei in human fibroblasts

Abstract

To investigate the influence of microwave radiation on the human fibroblast nuclei, the effects of three variants of electromagnetic wave polarization, linear and left-handed and right-handed elliptically polarized, were examined. Experimental conditions were: frequency (f) 36.65 GHz, power density (P) at the surface of exposed object 1, 10, 30, and 100 μW/cm2, exposure time 10 s. Human fibroblasts growing in a monolayer on a cover slide were exposed to microwave electromagnetic radiation. The layer of medium that covered cells during microwave exposure was about 1 mm thick. Cells were stained immediately after irradiation by 2% (w/v) orcein solution in 45% (w/v) acetic acid. Experiments were made at room temperature (25 °C), and control cell samples were processed in the same conditions. We assessed heterochromatin granule quantity (HGQ) at 600× magnification. Microwave irradiation at the intensity of 1 μW/cm2 produced no effect, and irradiation at the intensities of 10 and 100 μW/cm2 induced an increase in HGQ. More intense irradiation induced more chromatin condensation. The right-handed elliptically polarized radiation revealed more biological activity than the left-handed polarized one. © 2010 Zhejiang University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.