Low-dose 1GHz exposure in controlled conditions for the study of cellular effects of in vitro irradiated blood

A commercial Transverse Electromagnetic Mode (TEM) cell is used for the exposure, dosimetry and investigation of the in-vitro cellular effects in blood samples. A continuous wave of 1 GHz was used as excitation for the input port of the TEM cell, six different incident power levels and three values of exposure duration. Experimental and numerical dosimetry was applied to characterize the exposure conditions. Measurement of absorbed power was seconded by a more in-depth dosimetric approach by using an afore-developed and validated model of the TEM cell. The specific absorption rate (SAR) of energy inside the samples was determined in each case and the biological effects were analyzed by complete blood count and erythrocyte sedimentation rate tests. At low SAR levels, as we presently used (bellow 3.7W/kg), no statistical significant effects at cellular level were obtained. Present work enables further planning of targeted irradiation for bioelectromagnetics experiments considering the robustness of the computational dosimetry in the modeled TEM cell.