TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of magnetic fields and field gradients on living cells
AU - Wosik, Jarek
AU - Villagran, Martha
AU - Uosef, Ahmed
AU - Ghobrial, Rafik M.
AU - Miller, John H.
AU - Kloc, Malgorzata
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the William Stamps Farish Fund, the William and Ella Owens Medical Research Foundation and the Center for Bioenergetics at Houston Methodist Research Institute.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - The principle of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is based on the simultaneous application of a static magnetic field, temporally switched magnetic field gradients, and radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic signals. The development of MRI as a diagnostic tool has resulted in the installation of thousands of powerful magnets throughout the world. They have become the sources of the largest static magnetic fields to which humans are exposed. Because of safety concerns, the study of magnetic field effects on humans was initiated when MRI was first introduced in the 1970s. Since that time, numerous studies of the effects of magnetic fields interacting with living organisms have either shown no effect or contradictory results. The main reason behind the conflicting findings is the very small diamagnetic susceptibility of living organisms, and especially in cases where the magnetic field-generated forces are smaller than gravitationally generated forces, the effects are below the threshold of significance. However, the MRI industry trend of using ever-stronger superconducting magnets increases the likelihood that such effects will become noticeable, and, possibly, harmful. In this article, we discuss a physical mechanism behind magnetic field interactions with tissues, cells, and cytoskeleton.
AB - The principle of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is based on the simultaneous application of a static magnetic field, temporally switched magnetic field gradients, and radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic signals. The development of MRI as a diagnostic tool has resulted in the installation of thousands of powerful magnets throughout the world. They have become the sources of the largest static magnetic fields to which humans are exposed. Because of safety concerns, the study of magnetic field effects on humans was initiated when MRI was first introduced in the 1970s. Since that time, numerous studies of the effects of magnetic fields interacting with living organisms have either shown no effect or contradictory results. The main reason behind the conflicting findings is the very small diamagnetic susceptibility of living organisms, and especially in cases where the magnetic field-generated forces are smaller than gravitationally generated forces, the effects are below the threshold of significance. However, the MRI industry trend of using ever-stronger superconducting magnets increases the likelihood that such effects will become noticeable, and, possibly, harmful. In this article, we discuss a physical mechanism behind magnetic field interactions with tissues, cells, and cytoskeleton.
KW - Diamagnetic materials
KW - Macrophages
KW - Magnetic field force
KW - Mechanotransduction effect
KW - Static magnetic field gradients
KW - Superconducting magnets
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U2 - 10.1002/9780470034590.emrstm1609
DO - 10.1002/9780470034590.emrstm1609
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85078363115
VL - 8
SP - 371
EP - 386
JO - eMagRes
JF - eMagRes
SN - 2055-6101
IS - 4
ER -