Cytogenetic consequences of microwave irradiation on mammalian cells incubated in vitro

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Abstract
A 2450 MHz microwave oven was converted into a microwave incubator. Rat kangaroo RH5 and RH16 cells were incubated in the incubator and were subcultured every 5 to 7 days. The temperature of the cell cultures in the incubator was maintained at 37°C. The cells were incubated with direct microwave irradiation continuously for 50 passages and then returned to a conventional incubator and allowed to grow for another 30 passages. Cell growth rate was significantly reduced after 7 or 15 subculture passages under irradiation. Chromosome aberrations emerged after the cells had been microwave-incubated for about 20 passages. The long-term irradiation caused 0.84 chromosome breaks per cell in RH5 cell cultures and 0.10 breaks per cell in RH16 cell cultures. After the cell cultures had been returned to the conventional incubator and maintained for 30 passages, the number of chromosome breaks was greatly reduced in both cell cultures. The number of polyplold cells was increased to 35 percent and 31 percent during the irradiation, and was significantly reduced in the conventional Incubator. Many RH5 cells lost one chromosome and became 10-chromosome cells. The number of 10-chromosome cells increased during irradiation and continued to increase after being returned to the conventional incubator.