Abstract
The aim of the present review was to evaluate the literature suggesting that consideration be given to the existence of specific microwave (MW) effects on prokaryotic microorganisms; that is, effects on organisms that cannot be explained by virtue of temperature increases alone. This review considered a range of the reported effects on cellular components; including membranes, proteins, enzyme activity as well as cell death. It is concluded that the attribution of such effects to non-thermal mechanisms is not justified due to poor control protocols and because of the possibility that an unmeasurable thermal force, relating to instantaneous temperature (T i) that occurs during MW processing, has not been taken into account. However, due to this lack of control over T i, it also follows that it cannot be concluded that these effects are not ‘non-thermal’. Due to this ambiguity, it is proposed that internal ‘micro’-thermal effects may occur that are specific to MW radiation, given its inherent unusual energy deposition patterning.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Apostolou I, Papadopoulou C, Levidiotou S, Ioannides K (2005) The effect of short-time microwave exposures on Escherichia coli O157:H7 inoculated onto chicken meat portions and whole chickens. Int J Food Microbiol 101:105–110
Atmaca S, Akdag Z, Dasdag S, Celik S (1996) Effect of microwaves on survival of some bacterial strains. Acta Microbiol Immunol Hung 43:371–378
Aziz NH, Mahrous SR, Youssef BM (2002) Effect of gamma-ray and microwave treatment on the shelf-life of beef products stored at 5 °C. Food Control 13:437–444
Banik S, Bandyopadhyay S, Ganguly S (2003) Bioeffects of microwave—a brief review. Bioresour Technol 87:155–159
Bohr H, Bohr J (2000a) Microwave-enhanced folding and denaturation of globular proteins. Phys Rev 61:4310–4314
Bohr H, Bohr J (2000b) Microwave enhanced kinetics observed in ORD studies of a protein. Bioelectromagnetics 21:68–72
Bookwalter GN, Shukla TP, Kwolek WF (1982) Microwave processing to destroy Salmonellae in corn–soy–milk blends and effect on product quality. J Food Sci 47:1683–1686
Copty AB, Neve-Oz Y, Barak I, Golosovsky M, Davidov D (2006) Evidence for a specific microwave radiation effect on the green fluorescent protein. Biophys J 91:1413–1423
Dreyfuss MS, Chipley JR (1980) Comparison of effects of sublethal microwave radiation and conventional heating on the metabolic activity of Staphylococcus aureus. Appl Environ Microbiol 39:13–16
Farber JM, Aoust JYD, Diotte M, Sewell A, Daley E (1998) Survival of Listeria spp. on raw whole chickens cooked in microwave ovens. J Food Protect 61:1465–1469
Fujikawa H, Ushioda H, Kudo Y (1992) Kinetics of Escherichia coli destruction by microwave irradiation. Appl Environ Microbiol 58:920–924
George DF, Bilek MM, McKenzie DR (2008) Non-thermal effects in the microwave induced unfolding of proteins observed by chaperone binding. Bioelectromagnetics 29:324–330
Heddleson RA, Doores S (1994) Factors affecting microwave heating of foods and microwave induced destruction of foodborne pathogens—a review. J Food Protect 57:1025–1037
Hyland GJ (1998) Non-thermal bioeffects induced by low-intensity microwave irradiation of living systems. Eng Sci Educ J 7:261–269
Kingston HM, Jassie LB (1988) Introduction to microwave sample preparation: theory and practice. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, p 263
Kozempel M, Cook RD, Scullen OJ, Annous BA (2000) Development of a process for detecting non-thermal effects of a microwave energy on microorganisms at low temperature. J Food Process Preserv 24:287–301
Palaniaappan S, Sastry SK, Richter ER (1990) Effects of electricity on microorganisms: a review. J Food Process Preserv 14:393–414
Porcelli M, Cacciapuotia G, Fuscoa S, Massab R, D’Ambrosiob G, Bertoldoa C, Rosaa MD, Zappia V (1997) Non-thermal effects of microwaves on proteins: thermophilic enzymes as model system. FEBS Lett 402:102–106
Samarketu SP, Singh SP, Jha RK (1996) Effect of direct modulated microwave modulation frequencies exposure on physiology of cyanobacterium Anabena dolilum. New Delhi, India. IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, USA. p 155–158
Shamis Y, Taube A, Shramkov Y, Mitik-Dineva N, Vu B, Ivanova EP (2008) Development of a microwave effect for bacterial decontamination of raw meat. J Food Eng 4:1–15
Shamis Y, Patel S, Taube A, Morsi Y, Sbarski I, Shramkov Y, Croft R, Crawford RJ, Ivanova EP (2009) A new sterilization technique of bovine pericardial biomaterial using microwave radiation. Tissue Eng Meth 15:445–454
Shamis Y, Taube A, Mitik-Dineva N, Croft R, Crawford RJ, Ivanova EP (2011) A study of the specific electromagnetic effects of microwave radiation on Escherichia coli. Appl Environ Microbiol 77:3017–3022
Shamis Y, Taube A, Croft R, Crawford RJ, Ivanova EP (2012) Influence of 18 GHz microwave radiation on the enzymatic activity of Escherichia coli lactate dehydrogenase and cytochrome c oxidase. J Phys Sci Appl 5:13–17
Shazman A, Mizrahi S, Cogan U, Shimoni E (2007) Examining for possible non-thermal effects during heating in a microwave oven. Food Chem 103:444–453
Sisodia ML, Gupta VL (2005) Microwave engineering. New Age, New Delhi, p 358
Sun WC, Guy PM, Jahngen JH, Rossomando EF, Jahngen EGE (1988) Microwave-induced hydrolysis of phospho-anhydride bonds in nucleotide triphosphates. J Org Chem 53:4414–4416
Thuery J (1985) In: Grant EH (ed) Microwaves: industrial scientific and medical applications. Artech House, London, p 670
Vela GR, Wu JF (1979) Mechanism of lethal action of 2,450-MHz radiation on microorganisms. Appl Environ Microbiol 37:550–553
Woo IS, Rhee IK, Park HD (2000) Differential damage in bacterial cells by microwave radiation on the basis of cell wall structure. Appl Environ Microbiol 66:2243–2247
Zhang H, Datta AK (2000) In: Anatheswaran AKDRC (ed) Electromagnetics of microwave heating: magnitude and uniformity of energy absorption in an oven. Marcel Dekker, New York
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shamis, Y., Croft, R., Taube, A. et al. Review of the specific effects of microwave radiation on bacterial cells. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 96, 319–325 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-012-4339-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-012-4339-y