Published January 2024 | Version Published
Journal Article Open

Magnetic Field Intervention Enhances Cellular Migration Rates in Biological Scaffolds

Abstract

The impact of magnetic fields on cellular function is diverse but can be described at least in part by the radical pair mechanism (RPM), where magnetic field intervention alters reactive oxygen species (ROS) populations and downstream cellular signaling. Here, cellular migration within three-dimensional scaffolds was monitored in an applied oscillating 1.4 MHz radiofrequency (RF) magnetic field with an amplitude of 10 µT and a static 50 µT magnetic field. Given that cellular bioenergetics can be altered based on applied RF magnetic fields, this study focused on a magnetic field configuration that increased cellular respiration. Results suggest that RF accelerated cell clustering and elongation after 1 day, with increased levels of clustering and cellular linkage after 7 days. Cell distribution analysis within the scaffolds revealed that the clustering rate during the first day was increased nearly five times in the RF environment. Electron microscopy provided additional topological information and verified the development of fibrous networks, with a cell-derived matrix (CDM) visualized after 7 days in samples maintained in RF. This work demonstrates time-dependent cellular migration that may be influenced by quantum biology (QB) processes and downstream oxidative signaling, enhancing cellular migration behavior.

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Acknowledgement

R.J.U. would like to thank members of his research group for helpful comments on the manuscript and Anthony Kos for assistance with the Helmholtz instrumentation. SEM imaging and confocal microscopy were carried out at the High-Resolution Microscopy and Advanced Imaging Center at the Florida Institute of Technology under the supervision of Tatiana Karpova.

Funding

This work was supported by the American Heart Association (Grant No. 15SDG25710461) and this material is based upon work supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under award number FA9550-17-1-0458.

Data Availability

The datasets for this study can be found in the github repository at https://github.com/Cameron-McNamee/Cluster-Analyzer, accessed on 31 August 2022.
 
The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/bioengineering11010009/s1.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Contributions

R.J.U. conceived the experiment. A.M.V. wrote the manuscript with support from R.J.U., generated the cell tissues, and provided the cell images. C.M.M. wrote the manuscript with support from R.R.P. and R.J.U., provided data for Table 1, and conducted all data analysis and computation. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Funding

American Heart Association
15SDG25710461
United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research
FA9550-17-1-0458