Effect of a magnetic field on Drosophila under supercooled conditions.

Under subzero degree conditions, free water contained in biological cells tends to freeze and then most living things die due to low temperatures. We examined the effect of a variable magnetic field on Drosophila under supercooled conditions (a state in which freezing is not caused even below the fr...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Munekazu Naito, Shuichi Hirai, Makoto Mihara, Hayato Terayama, Naoyuki Hatayama, Shogo Hayashi, Masayuki Matsushita, Masahiro Itoh
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3532350?pdf=render
Description
Summary:Under subzero degree conditions, free water contained in biological cells tends to freeze and then most living things die due to low temperatures. We examined the effect of a variable magnetic field on Drosophila under supercooled conditions (a state in which freezing is not caused even below the freezing point). Under such supercooled conditions with the magnetic field at 0°C for 72 hours, -4°C for 24 hours and -8°C for 1 hour, the Drosophila all survived, while all conversely died under the supercooled conditions without the magnetic field. This result indicates a possibility that the magnetic field can reduce cell damage caused due to low temperatures in living things.
ISSN:1932-6203