Neurophysiological effect of 3-cm microwave radiation

¹ Radioisotope Laboratory, Veterans Administration Hospital; and Biophysics Program, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana

Neurophysiological effects from locally applied 3-cm microwave irradiation are demonstrated on decerebrate and anesthetized cats and shown to be the result of thermal stimulation of peripheral sensory nerve fibers. The penetrating characteristic of 3-cm radiation heats these fibers within the skin and subcutaneous tissue to 45° ± 2°C at which temperature a nociceptive response is elicited from the experimental animals. The irradiation is applied to small areas of skin or short sections of nerve trunks rich in sensory fibers and the nociceptive response obtained is quite different from the signs of a hyperthermal state seen during whole-body microwave irradiation.