Terahertz Radiation: A Non-contact Tool for the Selective Stimulation of Biological Responses in Human Cells

Abstract

Collective motions of water and of many biological macromolecules have characteristic time scales on the order of a picosecond. As a result, these biomolecules can strongly absorb terahertz (THz) radiation. Due to this absorption, THz radiation can exert a diverse range of effects on biological structures. For example, THz radiation has been shown to impact the structure, functional activity, and dynamics of macromolecules such as DNA and proteins. THz radiation can affect several gene expression pathways and, consequently, can alter various biochemical and physiological processes in cells. Indeed, THz radiation has been shown to influence the expression of several genes within different cell types. However, a complete view of the global transcriptional responses and the intracellular canonical pathways specifically triggered by THz radiation has not been elucidated. In this study, we performed a global profiling of transcripts in human cells exposed to 2.52 THz radiation and compared the exposure responses to a thermally-matched bulk-heating (BH) protocol. Our resultsshow that both THz radiation and BH induce a significant change in the expression of numerous mRNAs and microRNAs. The data also show that THz radiation triggers specific intracellular canonical pathways that are not affected in the BH-exposed cells. This study implies that THz radiation may be a useful, non-contact tool for the selective control of specific genes and cellular processes.

Terahertz Channel Propagation Phenomena, Measurement Techniques and Modeling for 6G Wireless Communication Applications: a Survey, Open Challenges and Future Research Directions

“…In fact, it can be expected that if you point a THz source towards e.g., a human hand and the power levels are sufficiently large i.e.-1 Watt it would actually hurt causing a burning sensation. Recent studies however, have shown that with high intensity transmission, different biological molecules exhibit absorption spectra inducing resonances that may damage but also repair DNA and protein cells [270], [271]. Research is still at its early stages and due to the lack of measurement data we are unable to determine THz health effects to establish radiation limits caused by short-term and long-term exposure.…”

Organizing and Disorganizing Resonances of Microtubules, Stem Cells, and Proteins Calculated by a Quantum Equation of Coherence

“…The described experiments of gene transcriptions fit in the proposed quantum equation of decoherence and see Appendix 4. 9) Echchgadda [110] [111] [112]: "An increase of the expression of the genes of the thermal-shock protein, transcription regulators, cellular growth factors, and anti-inflammatory cytokines has been found 4h after a THz irradiation [113]. Although increased expression was also observed in the 'temperature control,' it was higher for almost all the genes than in the experimental group.…”

Cellular effects of terahertz waves

“…At the same time, experiments on THz exposure effects are often performed under thermostatically controlled conditions at physiological temperatures of , which prevents general heating of an exposed object. 42 , 170 – 172 …”

“…At the same time, experiments on THz exposure effects are often performed under thermostatically controlled conditions at physiological temperatures of ≃37°C, which prevents general heating of an exposed object. 42,[170][171][172] Several research groups reported the presence of microthermal effects of THz exposure that are difficult to detect during the experiments. 34,173 However, significance of such effects still remains unexplored.…”

“…There were 30 and 16 pathways for the THz exposure and heating, respectively. 172,240 Quite interesting nonlinear effects were observed, i.e., some genes of the potassium and calcium channel proteins showed increased activity when exposed for 40 min, as compared with the 30-and 50-min-long exposures. 238 An additional analysis of individual genes indicated that, although stress genes are activated during the THz exposure, this is not typical for all studied genes and is less pronounced as compared with a simple heating.…”