Investigation of terahertz radiation influence on rat glial cells

2016 · Harm · Low evidence

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HarmLow evidencePaper 1388

Continuous THz radiation (0.12–0.18 THz) at an average power density of 3.2 mW/cm2 produced a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect in a rat glial cell line. The relative number of apoptotic cells increased ~1.5× after 1 minute and increased further with longer exp…

Study snapshot

Publicationmanual · 2016

Study typein_vitro

Reported directionHarm

Evidence ratingLow

Abstract

Investigation of terahertz radiation influence on rat glial cells Borovkova M, Serebriakova M, Fedorov V, Sedykh E, Vaks V, Lichutin A, Salnikova A, Khodzitsky M. Investigation of terahertz radiation influence on rat glial cells. Biomed Opt Express. 2016 Dec 14;8(1):273-280. doi: 10.1364/BOE.8.000273. Abstract We studied an influence of continuous terahertz (THz) radiation (0.12 - 0.18 THz, average power density of 3.2 mW/cm2) on a rat glial cell line. A dose-dependent cytotoxic effect of THz radiation is demonstrated. After 1 minute of THz radiation exposure a relative number of apoptotic cells increased in 1.5 times, after 3 minutes it doubled. This result confirms the concept of biological hazard of intense THz radiation. Diagnostic applications of THz radiation can be restricted by the radiation power density and exposure time. Excerpts ... It is known that THz radiation causes a variety of biological effects, including some at the cellular level. Detailed reviews on this issue can be found in papers [2-7]. Influence of THz radiation on cells is revealed in the change of genes activity and cell membrane status. It was also reported before, that THz radiation changes the electrical charge of the membrane of human red blood cells [8, 9], causes a violation of the adhesive properties of the nerve cell membrane of a snail and mollusk [10, 11]. An indication of the structural damage is the increase in membrane permeability, as it was shown in some experiments with human red blood cells and lymphocytes [12], and laboratory rats red blood cells [13, 14]. Among the cellular effects, the cytotoxic effect of THz radiation is also an issue of concern for many scientists. Currently, there is no consensus on this issue. Some studies have demonstrated that this effect does not occur [18-25], whereas in other works the effect was clearly displayed [10-12, 26-28]. Particularly, experiments in papers [19, 20, 25, 28] showed different results after exposure of THz radiation of approximately same frequency (0.10 - 0.15 THz) and power density (0.04 - 5 mW/cm2). In all mentioned experiments, registration of the effect was carried out using adequate methods; however, the samples under exposure were different. It is possible that presence or lack of the effect is associated with the properties and characteristics of some particular cells. For this investigation, glial cells were selected as the samples of the experiment. They are highly sensitive to the ionic changes in environment [29]. One of the mechanisms of THz radiation impact on living systems may be a disturbing effect on the status of the cell endogenous field, which will lead to changes in the ionic fluxes from a cell to environment and vice versa, and affect cell viability. Conclusion In this investigation, we demonstrated a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect of THz radiation on rat glial cells. In the experiment, a C6 rat glial cell line was exposed by continuous THz radiation (0.12 - 0.18 THz) at average power density of 3.2 mW/cm2. After one minute of exposure, a relative number of apoptotic cells increased by a factor of 1.5, after 5 minutes it became 2.4 times higher than the initial value. This result confirms the concept of biological hazard of intense THz radiation. Therefore, we claim that diagnostic applications of THz radiation can be restricted by the radiation power density and exposure time. osapublishing.org

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AI evidence extraction

Structured fields below were generated from the paper’s abstract and metadata to make the evidence easier to inspect. Automated extraction may be incomplete or incorrect; verify important details against the original paper.

Study typein_vitro

Effect directionharm

PopulationC6 rat glial cell line

Sample sizeNot supplied

Exposureterahertz · 150000 MHz · 1–5 minutes (continuous exposure; abstract also mentions 3 minutes)

Evidence strengthLowConfidence: 78% · Peer reviewed: yes

Main findings

Outcomes measured

Cytotoxicity
Apoptosis (relative number of apoptotic cells)

Limitations

In vitro study in a single rat glial cell line (C6); generalizability to other cell types or in vivo outcomes not stated
Sample size and replication details not provided in the abstract/excerpts
Exposure metric reported as power density; SAR and temperature control/thermal effects not described in the abstract/excerpts
Some inconsistency in reported timepoints/effect sizes across abstract vs conclusion (3 minutes vs 5 minutes)

View raw extracted JSON

{
  "study_type": "in_vitro",
  "exposure": {
    "band": "terahertz",
    "source": null,
    "frequency_mhz": 150000,
    "sar_wkg": null,
    "duration": "1–5 minutes (continuous exposure; abstract also mentions 3 minutes)"
  },
  "population": "C6 rat glial cell line",
  "sample_size": null,
  "outcomes": [
    "Cytotoxicity",
    "Apoptosis (relative number of apoptotic cells)"
  ],
  "main_findings": "Continuous THz radiation (0.12–0.18 THz) at an average power density of 3.2 mW/cm2 produced a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect in a rat glial cell line. The relative number of apoptotic cells increased ~1.5× after 1 minute and increased further with longer exposure (reported as doubled after 3 minutes; also reported as 2.4× after 5 minutes).",
  "effect_direction": "harm",
  "limitations": [
    "In vitro study in a single rat glial cell line (C6); generalizability to other cell types or in vivo outcomes not stated",
    "Sample size and replication details not provided in the abstract/excerpts",
    "Exposure metric reported as power density; SAR and temperature control/thermal effects not described in the abstract/excerpts",
    "Some inconsistency in reported timepoints/effect sizes across abstract vs conclusion (3 minutes vs 5 minutes)"
  ],
  "evidence_strength": "low",
  "confidence": 0.78,
  "peer_reviewed_likely": "yes",
  "keywords": [
    "terahertz",
    "THz radiation",
    "0.12–0.18 THz",
    "power density",
    "3.2 mW/cm2",
    "glial cells",
    "C6 cell line",
    "cytotoxicity",
    "apoptosis"
  ],
  "suggested_hubs": []
}

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AI-extracted fields are generated from the abstract and metadata and may be incomplete or incorrect. This material is for informational purposes and is not medical advice.

Identifiers and source

DOI: 10.1364/boe.8.000273
PubMed: Not supplied

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