Effect of microwaves, high energy electrons and gamma irradiation on the osmotic resistance of human erythrocyte membranes

Abstract

The effects of 5 MeV electrons and of gamma irradiation at 0°C as well as the effects of 2.45 GHz microwaves at −196°C on the osmotic resistance of human erythrocyte membranes are presented. Both electron and gamma radiation in the range 0–400 Gy induced no haemolysis, indicating that the membrane modifications due to radiation interaction do not reach a critical point to cause swelling of the cells and consequent lysis. The microwave irradiated erythrocytes showed a haemolysis degree between 6–16% in the irradiation time range of 0–5 min. The osmotic stress experiments performed after irradiation showed that the gamma irradiated erythrocytes exhibited an almost similar behaviour at all irradiation doses whereas the electron irradiated samples showed a much larger increase in the haemlysis degree, and in the case of a certain electron dose (100 Gy), the haemolysis was found much smaller than for the control sample. A similar behaviour of the erythrocytes was found in the case of microwave irradiation of the cryoprotected erythrocytes at −196°C: the sample irradiated for 6 min developed a haemolysis degree much smaller than for the control (70% from the nonirradiated sample haemolysis). Our experimental data suggest that electron radiation and gamma radiation have different impacts on the erythrocyte haemolysis in the dose range used. Much more experimental data is necessary in order to clarify the similarity between the results obtained in the case of electron irradiation at 0°C and microwave irradiation at −196°C, in the two different sets of irradiation conditions (liquid samples at 0°C and frozen samples at −196°C).