Effects of sinusoidal 50 Hz magnetic field on viability, cell cycle and apoptosis of HL-60 cells

This study was undertaken to investigate whether low frequency magnetic fields can affect the characteristic of cancer cells. To achieve this, HL-60 cells were exposed to 20 mT, 50 Hz sinusoidal magnetic field and the cell viability, cell cycle phase distribution, DNA ladder and apoptotic morphology between control and exposed cells were examined. The results demonstrated that magnetic field had pronounced inhibition effects on cell growth, and small but significant changes in cell cycle phase can be observed. Internucleosomal DNA fragmentation and morphological changes after exposure indicate that the magnetic field induces apoptosis in HL-60 cells. The results also indicate that the growth-inhibitory property of MF on HL-60 cell growth was mainly due to the induction of apoptosis.