Title :
Investigation into the effects of TETRA radiation on protein conformational changes using spectrofluorimetry
Author :
Liu, W. ; Cook, G.G. ; Barker, A.T. ; Coulton, L.A.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electron. & Electr. Eng., Univ. of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Abstract :
Spectrofluorimetry is used as an optical assay to investigate whether exposure of bovine serum albumin (BSA) to electromagnetic fields (EMF) causes structural changes in the protein distinct from any caused by heating alone. Such changes would alter the fluorescence spectrum of the BSA, and could indicate a potential for EMF induced altered biological activity of proteins in-vivo. No directly EMF induced fluorescence variations are observed under a 10 minute TETRA burst exposure paradigm at room temperature. An additional structure to the TEM Cell, which increases electric field strength around the cuvette area by a factor of 18, has also been designed.
Keywords :
biological effects of fields; biological effects of microwaves; molecular biophysics; molecular configurations; proteins; TETRA radiation effects; biological activity; bovine serum albumin; electric field strength; electromagnetic field exposure; fluorescence variations; optical assay; protein conformational changes; protein structural changes; spectrofluorimetry; temperature 293 K to 298 K; terrestrial trunked radio network; time 10 min; Antennas and propagation; Biological systems; Biomedical optical imaging; Bovine; Electromagnetic fields; Electromagnetic heating; Fluorescence; Proteins; Specific absorption rate; Temperature;
Conference_Titel :
Antennas & Propagation Conference, 2009. LAPC 2009. Loughborough
Conference_Location :
Loughborough
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-2720-8
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-2721-5
DOI :
10.1109/LAPC.2009.5352504