Abstract
Recent experiments have reported an effect of weak radiofrequency magnetic fields in the MHz-range on the concentrations of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in living cells. Since the energy that could possibly be deposited by the radiation is orders of magnitude smaller than the energy of molecular thermal motion, it was suggested that the effect was caused by the interaction of RF magnetic fields with transient radical pairs within the cells, affecting the ROS formation rates through the radical pair mechanism. It is, however, at present not entirely clear how to predict RF magnetic field effects at certain field frequency and intensity in nanoscale biomolecular systems. We suggest a possible recipe for interpreting the radiofrequency effects in cells by presenting a general workflow for calculation of the reactive perturbations inside a cell as a function of RF magnetic field strength and frequency. To justify the workflow, we discuss the effects of radiofrequency magnetic fields on generic spin systems to particularly illustrate how the reactive radicals could be affected by specific parameters of the experiment. We finally argue that the suggested workflow can be used to predict effects of radiofrequency magnetic fields on radical pairs in biological cells, which is specially important for wireless recharging technologies where one has to know of any harmful effects that exposure to such radiation might cause.
Highlights
Weak radiofrequency (RF) magnetic fields in the MHz-range was shown to influence the concentrations of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in living cells [1,2,3,4]
HFfS i is the average of singlet products describing the ensemble of radical pairs in the presence of an RF magnetic field, while hFSi0 is the same quantity without the RF contribution, i.e. corresponding to B1 = 0
Determining whether radical pairs residing in a biological environment are susceptible to RF magnetic field effects is no simple matter, but the presented workflow outlines the steps necessary to produce a realistic computational model of ensembles of such radical pairs, as well as the interpretation of calculation results in terms of physical observables
Summary
Weak radiofrequency (RF) magnetic fields in the MHz-range was shown to influence the concentrations of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in living cells [1,2,3,4]. A plausible explanation to the observed effect relies on the interaction of RF magnetic fields with transient radicals within the cells, affecting the ROS formation rates through the radical pair mechanism [5,6,7,8,9]. Prediction of the RF magnetic field effects in biomolecular systems is, not straightforward, as it relies on multiple interlinked scales ranging from electrons to the whole cell. This gap in our understanding of RF field effects on biological systems is, important and needs special attention because wireless charging has already been commercialized in various sectors such as portable.
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