Influence of microwaves on different types of receptors and the role of peroxidation of lipids on receptor-protein shedding.

The effects of a continuous wave or pulse-modulated, 900 MHz microwave field were studied by in vitro assays of rat chemoreceptors. The pulsed field was modulated as rectangular waves at rates of 1, 6, 16, 32, 75, or 100 pps. The pulse-period to pulse-duration ratio was 5 in all cases, and specific absorption rates (SARs) ranged from 0.5 to 18 W/kg. Binding of ligands to cell membranes was differentially affected by exposure to microwaves. For example, binding of H3-glutamic acid to hippocampal cells was not altered by a 15 min exposure to a continuous wave field at 1 W/kg, but binding of H3-dihydroalprenolol to liver-cell membranes of neonates underwent a fivefold decrease under the same field conditions. This effect was not dependent on modulation or on a change in the constant of stimulus-receptor binding but depended on a shedding of the membrane's receptor elements into solution. The magnitude of inhibition correlated with the oxygen concentration in the exposed suspension. Antioxidants (dithiothreitol and ionol) inhibited the shedding of receptor elements. The microwave exposure did not cause an accumulation of products from the peroxidation of lipids (POL). Ascorbate-dependent or non-enzymatic POL was not responsible for the inhibition, and POL was not found in other model systems. However, enzymatic POL mechanisms in localized areas of receptor binding remain a possibility.