Effect of a magnetic field on Drosophila under supercooled conditions.

• 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

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.