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Effects of electromagnetic radiation in the range 20–300 MHz on the vacuolar potential of characean cells
Author(s) -
Barsoum Yousri H.,
Pickard William F.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
bioelectromagnetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.435
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-186X
pISSN - 0197-8462
DOI - 10.1002/bem.2250030203
Subject(s) - bioelectromagnetics , chara , radiation , nitella , electromagnetic radiation , biophysics , electric field , optics , range (aeronautics) , extremely low frequency , electromagnetic field , materials science , optoelectronics , physics , botany , biology , composite material , quantum mechanics
A giant cell (circa 10 mm long) of Chara braunii or Nitella flexilis was placed in a microstrip exposure apparatus, and the vacuolar potential at one end was monitored with a micropipette while the other end was exposed to pulses of VHF radiation at electric field strengths up to 6250 V/m. With suitable filtering and signal averaging, offsets of the vacuolar potential could be detected in real time and at levels as low as 1 μU V. The only effect that has been reproducibly observed in the carrier frequency range 20–300 MHz was the slow ramp‐like hyperpolarization previously reported [Pickard and Barsoum, 1981] and tentatively attributed to electromagnetic heating of the system. The slopes of these ramps became more pronounced with increasing frequency and behaved in accordance with theoretical predictions.