A weak pulsed magnetic field affects adenine nucleotide oscillations, and related parameters in aggregating Dictyostelium discoideum amoebae

A model eukaryotic cell system was used to explore the effect of a weak pulsed magnetic field (PMF) on time-varying physiological parameters. Dictyostelium discoideum cells (V12 strain) were exposed to a pulsed magnetic field (PMF) of flux density 0.4 mT, generated via air-cored coils in trains of 2 ms pulses gated at 20 ms. This signal is similar to those used to treat non-uniting fractures. Samples were taken over periods of 20 min from harvested suspensions of amoebae during early aggregation phase, extracted and derivatised for HPLC fluorescent assay of adenine nucleotides. Analysis of variance showed a significant athermal damping effect (P < 0.002, n = 22) of the PMF on natural adenine nucleotide oscillations and some consistent changes in phase relationships. The technique of nonlinear dielectric spectroscopy (NLDS) revealed a distinctive effect of PMF, caffeine and EGTA in modulating the cellular harmonic response to an applied weak signal. Light scattering studies also showed altered frequency response of cells to PMF, EGTA and caffeine. PMF caused a significant reduction of caffeine induced cell contraction (P < 0.0006, n = 19 by paired t-test) as shown by Malvern particle size analyser, suggesting that intracellular calcium may be involved in mediating the effect of the PMF.