  Background: Biological effects of extra-low-frequency (ELF) magnetic fields
(MF) have lacked a credible mechanism of interaction between MFs and living
material. Objectives: Examine the effect of ELF-MFs on cancer cells. Methods:
Five cancer cell lines were exposed to ELF-MFs within the range of 0.025 to 5
microT, and the cells were examined for karyotype changes after 6 days.
Results: All cancer cells lines lost chromosomes from MF exposure, with a
mostly flat dose-response. Constant MF exposures for three weeks allow a rising
return to the baseline, unperturbed karyotypes. From this point, small MF
increases or decreases are again capable of inducing karyotype contractions.
Our data suggests that the karyotype contractions are caused by MF interference
with mitochondria's ATP synthase (ATPS), compensated by the action of
AMP-activated Protein Kinase (AMPK). The effects of MFs are similar to those of
the ATPS inhibitor oligomycin. They are amplified by metformin, an AMPK
stimulator, and attenuated by resistin, an AMPK inhibitor. Over environmental
MFs, karyotype contractions of various cancer cell lines show exceptionally
wide and flat dose-responses, except for those of erythro-leukemia cells, which
display a progressive rise from 0.025 to 0.4 microT. Conclusions: The
biological effects of MFs are connected to an alteration in the structure of
water that impedes the flux of protons in ATPS channels. These results may be
environmentally important, in view of the central roles played in human
physiology by ATPS and AMPK, particularly in their links to diabetes, cancer
and longevity.
