Effect of weak static magnetic fields on the development of cultured skeletal muscle cells

We studied the effect produced on the development and functional activity of skeletal muscle cells from newborn Wistar rats in primary culture by weak static magnetic fields (WSMF; 60-400 µT) with a high capacity of penetrating the biological media. To reduce the impact of external magnetic fields, cells were cultured at 37 °C in a multilayered shielding chamber with the attenuation coefficient equal to 160. WSMF inside the chamber was created by a circular permanent magnet. We found that the application of WSMF with the magnetic field strength only a few times that of the geomagnetic field can accelerate the development of skeletal muscle cells, resulting in the formation of multinuclear hypertrophied myotubes. WSMF was shown to induce 1.5- to 3.5-fold rise in the concentration of intracellular calcium [Ca(2+)]i due to the release of Ca(2+) from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) through ryanodine receptors (RyR), which increases in the maturation of myotubes. We also found that fully differentiated myotubes at late stages of development were less sensitive to WSMF, manifesting a gradual decrease in the frequency of contractions. However, myotubes at the stage when electromechanical coupling was forming dramatically reduced the frequency of contractions during the first minutes of their exposure to WSMF.