CELL REPLICATION RATES AND PROCESSES CONCERNING ANTIBODY-PRODUCTION IN-VITRO ARE NOT INFLUENCED BY 2.45-GHZ MICROWAVES AT PHYSIOLOGICALLY NORMAL TEMPERATURES

Several contradictory papers concerning the effects of microwaves on l iving organisms and on in vitro cell suspensions have been published t hrough the years. These papers are difficult to interpret, because tem perature measurement data are often lacking. Reliable temperature meas urements are important, be cause they enable one to determine whether the observed microwave effects are thermal or nonthermal. Therefore, a method was developed to investigate microwave effects on cellular pro cesses, in which the temperature was precisely monitored during microw ave treatment using a fiberoptic thermometer. This method involved the processes required for in vitro production of monoclonal antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies are vital ingredients in (microwave-stimulated) immunostaining techniques acid ELISAs, which have become important tec hniques in neuroscience. The effects of 2.45-GHz microwaves on mouse m yeloma and (neural) hybridoma cell replication rates and on antibody p roduction were investigated. In addition, the effects on the cell fusi on abilities of spleen lymphocytes and myeloma cells and on in vitro i mmunization were studied. The results of this study show no effects of microwaves on either of the processes mentioned using exposure times up to 5 h a day at a physiologically normal temperature of 37 degrees C. It was concluded that the effects of 2.45-GHz microwaves detected a t higher temperatures are thermal effects and that no indications for nonthermal 2.45-GHz microwave effects exist under the exposure conditi ons used in the present study, (C) 1998 Academic Press.