Effect of 99 GHz continuous millimeter wave electro-magnetic radiation on E. coli viability and metabolic activity.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate time exposure dependence of continuous millimeter wave (CW) 99 GHz radiation on Escherichia coli bacterial cell viability and metabolic activity.


METHODS
Suspensions of E. coli bacterial cells with an optical density of OD(660 nm) = 0.1 were used for viability tests and OD(660 nm) = 1.0 for metabolic activity tests. These suspensions were exposed to 99 GHz CW electromagnetic radiation, generated by a Backward Wave Oscillator (BWO) tube base instrument with a horn antenna at the BWO exit, to obtain an almost ideal Gaussian beam. Calculations of the Gaussian beam show that a power of 0.2 mW/cm(2) was obtained at the bacterial plane.


RESULTS
The experimental results show that 1 hour of exposure to 99 GHz CW electromagnetic radiation had no effect on E. coli viability and colony characterisation. In 19 h of radiation, the number of colonies forming units was half order of magnitude higher than the sham-exposed and the control. However, 19 h of exposure did not affect the E. coli metabolic activity.


CONCLUSIONS
Exposure of E. coli to millimeter wave (MW) CW 99 GHz radiation for a short period did not affect the viability of E. coli bacterial cells. However, exposure for 19 h caused a slight proliferation but did not influence the metabolic activities of about 90 biochemical reactions that were examined. Hence, we assume that the slight proliferation (half order of magnitude) after 19 h of exposure dose not have a biological meaning.
Cohen
Irena
I
Department of Electrical Engineering, Ariel University Center of Samaria, Ariel, Israel.
Cahan
Rivka
R
Shani
Gad
G
Cohen
Eyal
E
Abramovich
Amir
A
D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000528:radiation effects; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D050296:Microbial Viability / Q000528:radiation effects*; D008872:Microwaves / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D013997:Time Factors