Biological effects of 2450 MHz microwave combined with γ-rays on rat cultured gliacytes

To explore the biological effects of microwave combined with γ-rays on apoptosis, mitochondrion membrane potential (MMP), Ca2+ and Ca2+-Mg2+-ATPase in rat cultured gliacytes, primarily cultured gliacytes were randomly divided into the control group(C), the microwave group(M), the γ-rays group(I) and the combined group(IM). The M and IM groups were exposed to 4 mW/cm2 microwave 2 h/d for 3 days. The I and IM groups were given 5 Gy 60Co γ-rays on the forth day. Ca2+-Mg2+-ATPase was detected by kit. Apoptosis, MMP and Ca2+ were detected by flow cytometry (FCM). The results show that the ratio of apoptosis of the I and IM groups were significantly increased, and the contents of Ca2+ in the cytoplasm of M, I and IM group cells were all significantly higher meanwhile Ca2+-Mg2+-ATPase activity was lower than that of the control group;but MMP had no obvious changes in the four groups. Under the experimental conditions, the microwave radiation did not induce evident changes in MMP. However, the content of Ca2+ in the cytoplasm increased significantly and Ca2+-Mg2+-ATPase decreased obviously. No synergic effects were observed in the treatment with microwave before exposure to γ-rays. (authors)