Terahertz Radiation Increases Genomic Instability in Human Lymphocytes

From the abstract: Continuous-wave (CW) 0.1 THz radiation (0.031 mW/ cm2) was applied to dividing lymphocytes for 1, 2 and 24 h and examined the changes in chromosome number of chromosomes 1, 10, 11 and 17 and changes in the replication timing of their centromeres using interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The authors observed changes in the asynchronous mode of replication of centromeres 11, 17 and 1 (by 40%) after 2 h of exposure and of all four centromeres after 24 h of exposure (by 50%). It is speculated that these effects are caused by radiation-induced low-frequency collective vibrational modes of proteins and DNA. Bibliography: Korenstein-Ilana et al., Radiation Researach, Volume 170, Issue 2 (August 2008) pp. 224–234, Abstract