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The Effects of Bio-inspired Electromagnetic Fields on Normal and Cancer Cells

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Abstract

The electromagnetic field (EMF) is one of many environmental factors, which earth creatures are exposed to. There are many reports on the effects of EMF on living organisms. However, since the mechanism has not yet been fully understood, the biological effects of EMF are still controversial. In order to explore the effects of bio-inspired EMF (BIEMF) on normal and cancer cells, various cultured cells have been exposed to BIEMF of different directions, i.e. vertical, parallel and inclined. Significantly reduced ATP production in Hela and A549 cancer cells is found for the parallel and vertical BIEMF. More careful examination on Hela cells has revealed a cell density dependent inhibition on colony formation. The morphological observation of BIEMF-exposed Hela cells has suggested that the retarded cell proliferation is probably caused by cell death via apoptosis. Together these results may afford new insights for cancer prevention and treatment.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (51605188 and 51605187), the Joint Program of Jilin Province and Jilin University (SXGJQY2017-1 and SXGJSF2017-2), Jilin Provincial Science & Technology Department (20190303039SF), and Program for JLU Science and Technology Innovative Research Team (2017TD-04).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering (Ministry of Education), College of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130022, China

    Xuelei Liu, Zongming Liu, Zhenning Liu, Shujun Zhang & Luquan Ren

  2. Department of Anesthesiology, Jilin Cancer Hospital, Changchun, 130000, China

    Zongming Liu

  3. School of Computing and Technology, University of Gloucestershire, The Park, Cheltenham, GL50 2RH, UK

    Shujun Zhang & Kamal Bechkoum

  4. Magnacare Health Group, 20-22 Pemberton Street, Birmingham, B18 6NY, UK

    Michael Clark

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  1. Xuelei Liu
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  2. Zongming Liu
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Correspondence to Zhenning Liu or Shujun Zhang.

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Liu, X., Liu, Z., Liu, Z. et al. The Effects of Bio-inspired Electromagnetic Fields on Normal and Cancer Cells. J Bionic Eng 16, 943–953 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-019-0108-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-019-0108-2

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