Non-Thermal Microwave Reduction of Pathogenic Cellular Population

Abstract

Pathogenic bacterial cells have been proved to be destroyed by heat at specific parameters such as dry heat, moist heat, thermal radiation, etc. In the study that was undertaken, it was found that microwaves had shown the ability to destroy bacterial cells at specific parameters without causing heating of the substrate, when using low dielectric substrates such as a glass slide (originally devised method). It was found that the bacterial cells, when exposed to microwaves as a smear on glass slide were reduced in cell population using 2.45GHz microwaves at various power levels (Watts). The degrees of reduction of bacterial cells in smears were estimated by growing the exposed smears in routine bacterial media and by studying the surviving bacterial growth density in a spectrophotometer at 600nm.The study also revealed various parameters at which the selected pathogenic bacterial smear cells succumbed to microwave radiation, under such conditions.