Abstract
Power-line frequency (50/60 Hz) magnetic fields enhance DNA strand breaks in the cell. In order to understand the molecular mechanism underlying this phenomenon, we analyzed the conversion of plasmid from the supercoiled to the linear form. This conversion is promoted by hydroxyl radical generated by the reaction between Cu2+ and H2O2. The plasmid pHSG298 was incubated with 1 mM Cu2+ and 1 mM H2O2 and exposed to a 1.2 mT, 50-Hz magnetic field for 30, 60, and 90 min. The conversion of supercoiled DNA to linear DNA was analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis. We found that exposure to the magnetic field for 90 min significantly enhanced the degree of conversion.
Highlights
There have been conflicting reports regarding the effect of power line magnetic fields on DNA
Adair (2000) pointed out that the energy of a power-line frequency magnetic field is too low to cause strand breaks in cellular DNA, whereas a number of other studies demonstrated that double- or single-strand breaks (DSB/SSB) in cellular DNA are enhanced by 50/60 Hz magnetic fields (Zmyslony et al, 2000; Lai and Singh, 2004; Focke et al, 2010; Nakayama et al, 2014, 2016)
When the plasmid pGEM in the presence of H2O2 was exposed to a 250 mT static magnetic field, the original supercoiled form of the plasmid was converted to the open circular form, whereas this conversion was slower in the absence of the magnetic field (Potenza et al, 2004)
Summary
There have been conflicting reports regarding the effect of power line magnetic fields on DNA. It has been suggested that DNA strand breaks are due to cellular oxidative stress caused by the magnetic field (Mattsson and Simkó, 2012). This view is supported by observations that radical scavengers such as vitamin E (Kastir and Parola, 1998), melatonin (Jaite et al, 2001) and Trolox C (Lai and Singh, 2004) reduce the DNA breaking effect of magnetic fields. Magnetic fields have been shown to enhance strand breaks in purified DNA exposed to oxidative stresses. A magnetic field likely enhances this conversion reaction under oxidative conditions
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