A Wideband Microwave Exposure Setup for Suspended Cells Cultures: Numerical and Experimental EM Characterization

An in vitro exposure setup developed to expose suspended cells in Petri dishes on a large frequency band up to a few gigahertz was studied. This system was based on far-field exposure with a horn antenna in an anechoic chamber. A specific incubator was designed with a water-cooling system for constant temperature inside the setup. Four exposed Petri dishes presented a similar specific absorption rate (SAR) distribution with a whole-volume SAR of 0.56 ±0.40 W/kg/W_inc at 2.45 GHz. The incubator was equipped with a stirring mechanism allowing an homogenous distribution of temperature in the biological solution. The SAR was assessed over the 1.5-3 GHz frequency range. Using the temperature control and stirring, an increase of 0.4°C in temperature was observed after 2 h exposure at 2.45 GHz, 22 W incident power. This dosimetric study demonstrated the ability of this system to expose cells in suspension at different frequencies in a controlled environment.