High Power Electromagnetic Waves Exposure of Healthy and Tumor Bearing Mice: Assessment of Effects on Mice Growth, Behavior, Tumor Growth, and Vessel Permeabilization.

High power radiofrequencies may transiently or permanently disrupt the functioning of electronic devices, but their effect on living systems remains unknown. With the aim to evaluate the safety and biological effects of narrow-band and wide-band high-power electromagnetic (HPEM) waves, we studied their effects upon exposure of healthy and tumor-bearing mice. In field experiments, the exposure to 1.5 GHz narrow-band electromagnetic fields with the incident amplitude peak value level in the range of 40 kV/m and 150 MHz wide-band electric fields with the amplitude peak value in the range of 200 kV/m, did not alter healthy and tumor-bearing animals' growth, nor it had any impact on cutaneous murine tumors' growth. While we did not observe any noticeable behavioral changes in mice during the exposure to narrow-band signals when wide-band HPEM signals were applied, mice could behave in a similar way as they respond to loud noise signals: namely, if a mouse was exploring the cage prior to signal application, it returned to companion mates when wide-band HPEM signals were applied. Moreover, the effect of wide-band signals was assessed on normal blood vessels permeability in real-time in dorsal-chamber-bearing mice exposed in a pilot study using wide-band signal applicators. Our pilot study conducted within the applicator and performed at the laboratory scale suggests that the exposure to wide-band signals with the amplitude of 47.5 kV/m does not result in increased vessel permeability.

Evaluations of Acute and Sub-Acute Biological Effects of Narrowband and Moderate-Band High Power Electromagnetic Waves on Cellular Spheroids.

High power electromagnetic signals can disrupt the functioning of electronic devices. As electromagnetism plays a role in cells homeostasis, such electromagnetic signals could potentially also alter some physiological processes. Herein we report on distinct biological parameters assessment after cellular spheroids exposure to high power electromagnetic signals, such as the ones used for defense applications. Signals effects were assessed in tumor cells spheroids and in normal human dermal fibroblasts spheroids, where macroscopic aspect, growth, plasma membrane integrity, induction of apoptosis, ATP content, and mitochondrial potential were investigated after spheroids exposure to high power electromagnetic signals. No significant effects were observed, indicating that 1.5 GHz narrowband electromagnetic fields with incident amplitude level of 40 kV/m, and 150 MHz moderate-band electric fields with an amplitude of 72.5 to approximately 200 kV/m, do not cause any significant alterations of assessed parameters.

High power electromagnetic pulse applicators for evaluation of biological effects induced by electromagnetic radiation waves.

The effects of electromagnetic radiation waves on health is one of the major public concerns. These waves are mainly produced at a large scale but it is important to evaluate these effects on biological samples at the laboratory scale. Here we developed a set of micro applicators, which allow evaluating the effect of electromagnetic fields on biological samples with volumes in the microliter range. The applicators can be coupled to an optical microscope and allow a real-time observation of potential structural and functional alterations of the tested sample induced by different waveforms. New design approaches are suggested to simultaneously achieve maximized electric field coupling effect and optimized electric field homogeneity in the tested sample, while minimizing the return loss when the applicators are loaded with the biological samples. These applicators allow studying the biological effect of a variety of different signals, due to their wide frequency bandwidth (beyond 1.5 GHz) and their high permissible power. In addition, different electromagnetic parameters such as the electromagnetic field magnitude, pulse repetitive factor, number of bursts or delay between bursts may be set. The efficacy of the applicators was addressed for three different signals: two types of electromagnetic waves - a damped sinusoid centered at 200 MHz (wide band signal), a radar-like signal at 1.5 GHz (the ultra-narrow band signal) and a train of millisecond square-wave monopolar electric field pulses (causing electroporation). The biological effects were thus assessed (at the microscopic scale) on two different biological models, the giant unilamellar vesicles, and tumor and normal human cells, as well as being compared to results obtained (at full scale) with signals generated by antennas.

Microwave-Based Microfluidic Sensor for Non-Destructive and Quantitative Glucose Monitoring in Aqueous Solution.

This paper presents a reliable microwave and microfluidic miniature sensor dedicated to the measurement of glucose concentration in aqueous solution. The device; which is integrated with microtechnologies; is made of a bandstop filter implemented in a thin film microstrip technology combined with a fluidic microchannel. Glucose aqueous solutions have been characterized for concentration ranging from 80 g/L down to 0.3 g/L and are identified with the normalized insertion loss at optimal frequency. The sensitivity of the sensor has consequently been estimated at 7.6 × 10-3 dB/(g/L); together with the experimental uncertainty; the resolution of the sensor comes to 0.4 g/L. These results demonstrate the potentialities of such a sensor for the quantitative analysis of glucose in aqueous solution.