Shielding of the Geomagnetic Field Alters Actin Assembly and Inhibits Cell Motility in Human Neuroblastoma Cells

Another experiment that show us how sensitive are cells to the fields of the earth, when they are isolated from geomagnetic fields they began to have disrupted functions. And there exists not magnetite o iron-rich part to serve as sensor (as some time ago was believed to be the unique way of sensing), the mechanism of sensing is unknown.

" ... most species, especially human beings, do not have iron-rich tissues/cells or a cryptochromes (CRYs) dependent photochemical compass 3–5 . Thus, they are commonly believed not able to sense the GMF. Recently, Drosophila, which appeared to be non-magnetosensitive, has been trained to exhibit light-sensing-related magnetic-sensing abilities 6,7 . Many non-iron-rich and non-photo-sensing cells also showed observable changes after exposure to additional static magnetic fields (SMFs) or GMF attenuation; examples include the proliferation, apoptosis, migration and adhesion of bone and muscle cells 8,9 , neuronal cells 10–12 , and cancer cells 13–16 . However, the mechanisms of their magnetosensation, particularly GMF sensation, remain poorly understood." {Credits 1}

In this case, the isolation of neuroblastoma cells reduces their adhesion capacity and also consequently their motility and migration rates (with slower migration speeds). Also their morphology changed, isolation increased cell volume during some hours (although later become equiparable to the non-isolated cells), and similar time-dependent changes are viewed in the perimeter of the cells affecting their circularity or irregularity.

And also it has been discovered that isolation affects regulation of the F-actin cytoskeleton.

" ... a greater number of retracted and blunt cell protrusions were observed by F-actin staining, as well as fewer F-actin filopodia at the cell edge, when compared to cells incubated in the GMF (Fig. 6a,b). The amount of F-actin present in cells was significantly reduced after 48 h exposure to the HMF (Fig. 6c; p = 0.007), and fewer F-actin fibres were located at the tip of cell protrusion ..." {Credits 1}

The authors believe that the actin assembly process is a main target of geomagnetic field isolation effect.

{Credits 1} 🎪 Mo, W. C., Zhang, Z. J., Wang, D. L., Liu, Y., Bartlett, P. F., & He, R. Q. (2016). Shielding of the geomagnetic field alters actin assembly and inhibits cell motility in human neuroblastoma cells. Scientific reports, 6, 22624. © 2016 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0.