Terahertz (THZ) frequencies penetrate deeply into human bodies, awakening dormant cells and strengthening immunity systems.
THz radiation can effectively distinguish the boundaries between cancerous and healthy tissues, potentially helping prevent tumor recurrence by providing early stage diagnosis. Furthermore, this technology has demonstrated promising results in other applications including pain management and wound healing.
Biological Effects
Terahertz (THz) radiation is a non-ionizing form of electromagnetic energy that occupies the frequency range between conventional microwave and infrared frequencies. THz waves have the ability to penetrate deeply into biomedical tissues and cause various biological effects which may prove useful in medical settings.
THz radiation does not ionize biological molecules, making it safer and more effective than traditional X-rays which may cause molecular damage. Furthermore, THz radiation can produce biomolecular effects unrelated to chemical interactions, such as vibration, rotation and libration; THz can also induce nonthermal changes in dielectric constants of water molecules within biological tissues.
THz radiation’s properties make it an ideal candidate for imaging and therapy applications, such as imaging without invasive procedures like biopsy or surgery, while its spectroscopy can detect cancer cells present in tissue samples as well as track their molecular progression over time.
THz Irradiation’s Biological Effects
Terahertz radiation is known to influence numerous cellular processes, including growth, proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation. Furthermore, THz radiation can suppress cytokines and inflammatory responses while increasing cell viability and stimulating DNA repair processes in cells. Furthermore, Terahertz radiation has also been demonstrated to alter membrane morphology while altering ionic and lipid balance within cells as well as suppress amyloid oligomer formation while attenuating neuroinflammation associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
THz irradiation affects cells differently depending on their type, tissue and amount of exposure. THz can have various nonthermal effects such as changing protein conformation and binding to DNA via nonlinear resonance; alter membrane permeability; change gene expression patterns and even trigger apoptosis and cell differentiation in neural stem cells (NSCs).
Mechanisms of Action
THz radiation can penetrate biological tissues with great transparency and without significant scattering, making THz spectroscopy very useful in the identification of different biomarkers. For instance, it can help identify liver injury by comparing THz spectra of normal and fibrotic tissue slices1, detect burns2, differentiate normal from malignant cells3, as well as determine tumor or metastases4. Furthermore, imaging THz waves could potentially help detect cancer metastases4.
THz waves’ ability to interact with biological structures and molecular processes is a key aspect of their therapeutic potential. Studies have demonstrated how THz radiation can create nonthermal effects by creating local openings in DNA helix via nonlinear resonance, thus impacting double chain stability (Alexandrov et al. 2010)5.
THz radiation can alter cell cytoskeletal structure and protein activity, as well as influence its proliferation and differentiation into neuronal lineage cells (Cherkasova et al., 2020). Research has demonstrated this through THz irradiation of human neural stem cells (hNSCs). THz irradiation alters their cytoskeleton structure resulting in changes to cell adhesion capabilities as well as proliferation rates (Cherkasova et al. 2020).
THz radiation exposure promotes cell migration and increases microtubule counts in the cytoplasm, both essential components for proliferation. This effect has been linked to Src activation – which plays an essential role in cell polarization and signaling (Sharifi et al. 2017).
THz irradiation has also been demonstrated to possess anti-inflammatory effects and reduced glial reactivity in APPSWE/PS1DE9 mice. It has been speculated that THz radiation works by inhibiting Ab oligomers production, thus decreasing neuroinflammation. Although further investigation needs to take place into its exact mechanism of action, one possibility could be altering hydrogen bond networks within Ab oligomers by decreasing the b-sheet area and increasing a-helix sites.
Preliminary Results
Terahertz (THz) radiation provides immense potential for biomedical applications in the electromagnetic spectrum between infrared and millimeter waves, being capable of detecting vibration and rotation energy levels of numerous biomacromolecules, thus providing valuable information regarding their structural features.
THz sensing and imaging techniques can be used to precisely distinguish between healthy and diseased tissues, including tumors. By analyzing THz spectra of tissue samples, liver injury severity and burn severity can be accurately quantified1. THz radiation penetrates human body tissues up to 1 cm deep for accurate metastatic states detection in lymph nodes as well as improved diagnosis of head and neck diseases such as brain cancer, hypopharyngeal cancer, oral disorders, thyroid nodules, Alzheimer’s disease and eye problems2.
THz technology can detect pathological changes in biological tissues as well as detect and treat various diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. THz radiation has been demonstrated to alter protein structures at both organismal and cellular levels; as an effective treatment option against amyloid aggregation and neurofibrillary tangles found within Alzheimer’s patients’ brain tissues.
Molecular dynamic simulations have revealed that DNA from living human cells responds to THz radiation by changing its spectral characteristics, due to a phenomenon known as nonlinear resonance which causes local openings in its helix structure and may impede with RNA polymerase activity and the oxidation of adenine-thymine bonds within their genomes.
Recently, THz radiation has been discovered to increase protein system activity at the cellular level and even induce its dissociation – this phenomenon is known as “protein-induced THz response”, suggesting THz therapy could be effective at relieving effects associated with various neurological conditions, including ischemic stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. It works through interaction between vibrational/rotation energy of molecules inside cells and electromagnetic fields generated by THz radiation.
Conclusions
Terahertz (THz) waves are electromagnetic waves located between microwave and infrared regions of the spectrum. With such powerful penetration ability into soft tissues, terahertz band waves make an invaluable tool for biomedical applications like spectroscopy and imaging.
THz radiation provides non-invasive, label-free tissue analysis with the potential to enhance clinical decision making by providing early cancer detection, and mapping tumor boundaries and invasion depth early. Early cancer detection can result in better patient outcomes while mitigating risks associated with complex surgery and chemotherapy treatment protocols.
THz radiation therapy can also be used to treat multiple conditions, including pain management, wound healing, skin care and immunoregulation. THz may help alleviate muscle soreness, arthritis and neuropathic pain; promote skin health; reducing dark spots, wrinkles and acne; boost immune function while potentially relieving stress and anxiety.
Terahertz radiation may help slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease by disrupting hydrogen bond networks in b-amyloid peptide, suppressing its aggregation. A recent study also showed that exposure to THz waves at particular frequencies resulted in significant changes in positive staining area fractions for NeuN, MAP-2 and synaptophysin which suggests THz irradiation inhibited apoptosis significantly inhibited neurons.
Terahertz radiation could also be utilized to identify malignant cells, since methylated DNA of cancerous cells exhibits a resonance frequency of 1.65 THz. Understanding this resonance could enable researchers to create metamaterial sensors capable of detecting DNA methylation at its root level – providing diagnostic tools that would serve many diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
