PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
Despite widespread public interest in the health impact of exposure to microwave radiation, studies of the influence of microwave radiation on biological samples are often inconclusive or contradictory. Here we examine the influence of microwave radiation of frequencies 3.5 GHz, 20 GHz and 29 GHz on the growth of microtubules, which are biological nanotubes that perform diverse functions in eukaryotic cells. Since microtubules are highly polar and can extend several micrometres in length, they are predicted to be sensitive to non-ionizing radiation. Moreover, it has been speculated that tubulin dimers within microtubules might rapidly toggle between different conformations, potentially participating in computational or other cooperative processes. Our data show that exposure to microwave radiation yields a microtubule growth curve that is distorted relative to control studies utilizing a homogeneous temperature jump. However, this apparent effect of non-ionizing radiation is reproduced by control experiments using an infrared laser or hot air to heat the sample and thereby mimic the thermal history of samples exposed to microwaves. As such, no non-thermal effects of microwave radiation on microtubule growth can be assigned. Our results highlight the need for appropriate control experiments in biophysical studies that may impact on the sphere of public interest.
摘要：
尽管公众对微波辐射对健康的影响有广泛的兴趣，微波辐射对生物样品影响的研究通常是不确定的或相互矛盾的。在这里，我们研究了频率为3.5GHz的微波辐射的影响，20GHz和29GHz上微管的生长，它们是在真核细胞中执行不同功能的生物纳米管。由于微管是高度极性的，可以延伸几微米的长度，预计它们对非电离辐射敏感。此外，据推测，微管内的微管蛋白二聚体可能会在不同构象之间迅速切换，可能参与计算或其他合作过程。我们的数据表明，暴露于微波辐射会产生微管生长曲线，该曲线相对于使用均匀温度跳跃的对照研究而言是扭曲的。然而,非电离辐射的这种明显影响通过使用红外激光或热空气加热样品的对照实验来再现，从而模拟暴露于微波的样品的热历史。因此，不能确定微波辐射对微管生长的非热效应。我们的结果强调了在生物物理研究中需要进行适当的控制实验，这可能会影响公共利益的领域。
