Low intensity microwave radiation as modulator of the l-lactate dehydrogenase activity

In this study, we investigated experimentally the possibility of modulating protein activity by low intensity microwaves by measuring alternations of l-Lactate Dehydrogenase enzyme (LDH) activity. The LDH enzyme solutions were irradiated by microwaves of the selected frequencies and powers using the Transverse Electro-Magnetic (TEM) cell. The kinetics of the irradiated LDH was measured by continuous monitoring of nicotine adenine dinucleotide, reduced (NADH) absorbance at 340 nm. A comparative analysis of changes in the activity of the irradiated LDH enzyme versus the non-radiated enzyme was performed for the selected frequencies and powers. It was found that LDH activity can be selectively increased only by irradiation at the particular frequencies of 500 MHz [electric field: 0.02 V/m (1.2 × 10−6 W/m2)–2.1 V/m (1.2 × 10−2 W/m2)] and 900 MHz [electric field: 0.021–0.21 V/m (1.2 × 10−4 W/m2)]. Based on results obtained it was concluded that LDH enzyme activity can be modulated by specific frequencies of low power microwave radiation. This finding can serve to support the hypothesis that low intensity microwaves can induce non-thermal effects in bio-molecules.