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Low-Frequency-Dependent Magnetic Field Effects in Biological Systems and the Radical Pair Mechanism

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Electricity and Magnetism in Biology and Medicine

Abstract

A possible mechanism for low-frequency-dependent effects of oscillating magnetic fields (f ≈ 1–1,000 Hz) on radical pair recombination kinetics in biological systems has been proposed (Walleczek, 1995). Others have argued against the possibility of such effects, because of the different time scales involved; radical pair recombination takes place in the nanosecond time domain, compared to the millisecond time scale of the low-frequency magnetic field oscillations (e.g., Brocklehurst and McLauchlan, 1996; Valberg et al., 1997). This contribution reviews recent theoretical evidence in support of the hypothesis that time-varying magnetic fields may lead to biological responses by initial interactions with spin-correlated radical pairs in dependence on the field frequency.

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References

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© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Walleczek, J. (1999). Low-Frequency-Dependent Magnetic Field Effects in Biological Systems and the Radical Pair Mechanism. In: Bersani, F. (eds) Electricity and Magnetism in Biology and Medicine. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4867-6_84

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4867-6_84

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-7208-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-4867-6

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