Microwave radiation and heart-beat rate of rabbits

Each of three adult New Zealand rabbits, 2 male and 1 female albinos, was exposed dorsally or ventrally, to 2450-MHz plane waves for 20 min under each of several field conditions: 1) to continuous waves (CW) at 5 mW/cm2; 2) to pulsed waves (PW) of 1-microsecond width that recurred 700 pps at an average of 5 mW/cm2 and at a peak of 7.1 W/cm2; 3) to PW of 10-microseconds width at a peak of 13.7 W/cm2 that were synchronized with and triggered by the R wave of the electrocardiogram (EKG) at various delay times (0, 100, and 200 ms; and 4) to CW at 80 mW/cm2. Carbon-loaded Teflon electrodes were used to record the EKG from forelimbs of an animal before, during, and after irradiation whilst it was maintained in a constant exposure geometry in a wooden squeeze box. Field induced changes in the heart-beat rate were observed at 80 mW/cm2 but not a lower average power densities, although a peak positive chronotropic effect might have been occasioned by PM introduced at 100 and 200 ms after the R wave peak. No cumulative effect was observed over a period of four months. Thermographic analysis revealed relatively little absorption of microwave energy by the myocardium irrespective of anatomical aspect of exposure.