Calcium efflux of plasma membrane vesicles exposed to ELF magnetic fieldsutest of a nuclear magnetic resonance interaction model

The question whether very weak, low frequency magnetic fields can affect biological matter is still under debate. The theoretical possibility of such an interaction is often questioned and the site of interaction in the cell is unknown. In the present study, the influence of extremely weak 60?Hz magnetic fields on the transport of Ca2+ was studied in a biological system consisting of highly purified plasma membrane vesicles. We tested a newly proposed quantum mechanical model postulates that polarization of hydrogen nuclei can elicit a biological effect. Vesicles were exposed for half an hour at 32?degrees C and the calcium efflux was studied using radioactive 45Ca2+ as a tracer. A static magnetic field of 26?mu T and time-varying magnetic fields with a frequency of 60?Hz and amplitudes between 0.6 and 6.3?mu T were used. The predictions of the model, proposed by Lednev, that at a frequency of 60?Hz the biological effect under investigation would significantly be altered at the amplitudes of 1.3 and 3.9?mu T could not be confirmed. Bioelectromagnetics 33:535542, 2012. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.