EFFECT OF AC AND DC MAGNETIC-FIELD ORIENTATION ON NERVE-CELLS

Recent tests of the influence of parallel ac and dc magnetic fields on neurite outgrowth in PC-12 cells showed good agreement with the predi ctions of an ion parametric resonance model. However, experimental res ults from earlier work involving both a perpendicular (160 mG) and a p arallel (366 mG) dc magnetic field were not as consistent with the ion parametric resonance model predictions. Test results reported here sh ow that the cell response to perpendicular ac and dc magnetic fields i s distinct and predictably different from that found for parallel ac a nd dc magnetic fields, and that the response to perpendicular fields i s dominant in an intensity-dependent nonlinear manner. (C) 1996 Academ ic Press, Inc.