Driving Intracellular Metal Ions of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells with Intense Terahertz Pulses

Terahertz (THz) irradiation has been exploited in biomedical applications involving non-invasive manipulation of living cells. We developed an apparatus for studying the effects of THz pulse irradiation on living human induced pluripotent stem cells. The THz pulse of the maximum electric field reached 0.5 MV/cm and was applied for one hour with 1 kHz repetition to the entire cell-culture area, a diameter of 1 mm. RNA sequencing of global gene-expression revealed that many THz-regulated genes were driven by zinc-finger transcription factors. Combined with a consideration of the interactions of metal ions and a THz electric field, these results imply that the local intracellular concentration of metal ions, such as Zn2+, was changed by the effective electrical force of our THz pulse.