Cultures of murine erythroleukemic cells undergoing erythroid differentiation in response to induction by hexamethylene bisacetamide (HMBA) were exposed to 1180-MHz microwave (MW) radiation for 48 h while maintained at 37.4 degrees C by variable-temperature air flow. Exposures at 1180 MHz were at 5.5, 11, and 22 mW/cm2 with a normalized specific absorption rate of 3.32 W/kg per mW/cm2. HMBA-induced control cells were incubated in a 37.4 degrees C water bath. Mean cell doubling time was 16.5 h in both the irradiated cultures and the control cultures. About 65% of the cells of irradiated cultures and control cultures were benzidine-positive differentiated cells. Both the irradiated cultures and the control cultures contained approximately 58 micrograms of hemoglobin/mg total cytoplasmic protein. The absence of any change in these parameters suggests that MW radiation at 1180 MHz and similar frequencies exerts no effect on proliferation and differentiation of mammalian cells in the absence of hyperthermia.