The effect of low-intensity microwave electromagnetic radiation on vital functions of yeast cells in the medium of citric acid

Abstract

The impact of electromagnetic fields on biological objects of various organization levels attracts specialists of different disciplines. At formation of the biological response to external physical effects, cell membranes play crucial role due to their ability to regulate biochemical processes in the cell, the possibility to change the rate of diffusion of ions and substrates and electronic structure of free radicals, orientation and other biological macromolecules. Citric acid is present in every act of microorganism’s vital activity as a key element of the cycle of tricarboxylic acids, and therefore plays an important role in the metabolism of living cells that use oxygen, and acts as accelerating and braking regulator of certain enzymatic processes of primary metabolism depending on the concentration. The active acidity significantly affects the vital activity in yeast. The purpose – to identify the patterns of influence of citric acid on yeast in suspension in the concentration range of 0–4 mg/ml, on vital processes of cells following the exposure of low electromagnetic radiation of millimeter range. The results of studies on the effect of citric acid (pH of the slurry) with different concentrations on exogenous and endogenous metabolism with the control of gas and heat during the life of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, previously irradiated with low-intensity electromagnetic radiation of different frequencies of millimeters range are presented. It has been shown that low concentrations of citric acid (up to 2 mg/ml) inhibit the enzymatic process only at an initial stage and activate the processes of cell metabolism as both irradiated and nonirradiated. A substantial increase in the duration and thermal effect due to fermentation in the presence of citric acid indicates more complete assimilation of carbohydrates. The changing of the behavior of the relaxation curves for the systems containing citric acid indicates the presence of transition between stages of flooding and fermentation of such suspensions, which may be due to the restructuring plasmolemma of the cellular organism in self-defense against excessive concentration of citric acid in cells cytoplasm. The restructuring of the protein structural organization of plasmolemma requires additional energy costs and is recorded in the form of excess heat.