Experimental determination of hydrogen bandwidth for the ion parametric resonance model.

Abstract

The ion parametric resonance (IPR) model predicts that distinct patterns of field-induced biological responses will occur at particular magnetic field combinations which establish ion resonances. An important characteristic of resonance is the bandwidth response of the system, in part because it determines the required tolerances of the test system. Initial development of the IPR model used literature data to estimate the bandwidth for any ion resonance to be -/+10% of its exact resonance. Because the charge-to-mass ratio of hydrogen is much larger than any other biologically significant ion, hydrogen resonance provides a unique test case by which a single ionic bandwidth can be clearly measured. Of particular relevance is work by Trillo et al. that demonstrated a hydrogen-only, resonance-based IPR response of neurite outgrowth in PC-12 cells. The work reported here considers the response of nerve-growth-factor-stimulated PC-12 cells exposed to magnetic fields tuned at or near hydrogen resonance. This work was designed to test directly the IPR model hypothesis of a -/+10% ionic bandwidth. Consistent with the work of Trillo et al., resonance conditions were established using a 2.97 microT static magnetic field, and the AC frequency and field strength were varied to prove different aspects of the resonance. With this static field 45 Hz was the resonance frequency identified for hydrogen, 42.5 and 47.5 Hz were near-resonance frequencies, and 40 and 50 Hz bounded the assumed -/+10% hydrogen resonance bandwidth. We repeated each test three times. The cell responses at 45 Hz exposures agreed with the IPR model predictions and replicated results obtained by Trillo et al. Cells exposed to 42.5 and 47.5 Hz (near resonance) magnetic fields responded in the same general pattern as those exposed to 45 Hz fields, but neurite outgrowth was less than that observed at resonance. Measured results for cells exposed to either 40 Hz or 50 Hz fields were indistinguishable from off-resonance responses, consistent with the hypothesized bandwidth. These results confirm that the response bandwidth for the hydrogen ion is no greater than -/+10%, and give further support to the resonance-based predictions of the IPR model.