PHYSIOLOGICAL INTERACTION PROCESSES AND RADIOFREQUENCY ENERGY-ABSORPTION

Because exposure to microwave fields at the resonant frequency may generate heat deep in the body, hyperthermia may result. This problem has been examined in an animal model to determine both the thresholds for response change and the steady-state thermoregulatory compensation for body heating during exposure at resonant (450 MHz) and supra-resonant (2,450 MHz) frequencies. Adult male squirrel monkeys, held in the far field of an antenna within an anechoic chamber, were exposed (10 min or 90 min) to either 450-MHz or 2,450-MHz CW fields (E polarization) in cool environments. Whole-body SARs ranged from 0-6 W/kg (450 MHz) and 0-9 W/kg (2,450 MHz). Colonic and several skin temperatures, metabolic heat production, and evaporative heat loss were monitored continuously. During brief RF exposures in the cold, the reduction of metabolic heat production was directly proportional to the SAR, but 2,450-MHz energy was a more efficient stimulus than was the resonant frequency. In the steady state, a regulated increase in deep body temperature accompanied exposure at resonance, not unlike that which occurs during exercise. Detailed analyses of the data indicate that temperature changes in the skin are the primary source of the neural signal for a change in physiological interaction processes during RF exposure in the cold.