Abstract
Quantum biology is the study of quantum effects on biochemical mechanisms and biological function. We show that the biological production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in live cells can be influenced by coherent electron spin dynamics, providing a new example of quantum biology in cellular regulation. ROS partitioning appears to be mediated during the activation of molecular oxygen (O2) by reduced flavoenzymes, forming spin-correlated radical pairs (RPs). We find that oscillating magnetic fields at Zeeman resonance alter relative yields of cellular superoxide (O2•−) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) ROS products, indicating coherent singlet-triplet mixing at the point of ROS formation. Furthermore, the orientation-dependence of magnetic stimulation, which leads to specific changes in ROS levels, increases either mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis rates. Our results reveal quantum effects in live cell cultures that bridge atomic and cellular levels by connecting ROS partitioning to cellular bioenergetics.
Highlights
Quantum biology may be thought of as the signatures of molecular-level quantum phenomena observed in biological systems at functional, cellular, or organism levels[1,2]
The radical pairs (RPs) spin dynamics are governed by internal magnetic interactions, usually electron-nuclear hyperfine interactions (HFIs) and applied magnetic fields
We report the effects of the orientation of oscillating fields on the reactive oxygen species (ROS) reaction yields in cell cultures and the impact of the resulting variations in the ROS products on the regulation of cellular bioenergetics
Summary
Impacts Cellular Bioenergetics received: 01 August 2016 accepted: 10 November 2016 Published: 20 December 2016. We find that oscillating magnetic fields at Zeeman resonance alter relative yields of cellular superoxide (O2−) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) ROS products, indicating coherent singlet-triplet mixing at the point of ROS formation. External static and oscillating magnetic fields can alter RP spin dynamics by Zeeman and HFI resonance effects, and thereby change the relative yields of reaction products that derive, alternatively, from singlet and triplet RP states[18,19]. The numerical results predict an orientation-dependent increase in singlet product yield (H2O2) and decrease in triplet product yield (O2−) when the resonant RF field is added to the static field These simulations are in agreement with perpendicular experimental results (Fig. 2) and are consistent with our previous cellular results with hyperfine resonance effects[21]. Our results provide fundamental insights into the role of the RPM in ROS redox biology and cellular bioenergetics, revealing a new example of quantum biology
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