THz exposure of whole blood for the study of biological effects on human lymphocytes

The aim of the present study is to investigate the genotoxic effect of THz radiation in human peripheral blood lymphocytes following 20 minutes exposure to 1 mW average power Free Electron Laser radiation in the frequency range 120–140 GHz. For this purpose 9 healthy donors were employed and cytokinesis block technique was applied to study micronucleus frequency and cell proliferation. The results obtained indicate that all the electromagnetic conditions adopted so far do not alter the investigated parameters, suggesting absence of direct chromosomal damage and alteration of cell cycle kinetics (two tailed paired Student's test: p>0.05 in all cases).