Non-thermal effects of terahertz radiation on gene expression in mouse stem cells

In recent years, terahertz radiation sources are increasingly being exploited in military and civil applications. However, only a few studies have so far been conducted to examine the biological effects associated with terahertz radiation. In this study, we evaluated the cellular response of mesenchymal mouse stem cells exposed to THz radiation. We apply low-power radiation from both a pulsed broad-band (centered at 10 THz) source and from a CW laser (2.52 THz) source. Modeling, empirical characterization, and monitoring techniques were applied to minimize the impact of radiation-induced increases in temperature. qRT-PCR was used to evaluate changes in the transcriptional activity of selected hyperthermic genes. We found that temperature increases were minimal, and that the differential expression of the investigated heat shock proteins (HSP105, HSP90, and CPR) was unaffected, while the expression of certain other genes (Adiponectin, GLUT4, and PPARG) showed clear effects of the THz irradiation after prolonged, broad-band exposure.