Study on the acid-base balance in blood under pulsed magnetic field using magnetic beads

Abstract

The blood’s acid-base balance is precisely controlled because even a minor deviation from the normal range can severely affect many organs. Due to the Warburg effect, in tumor cells, an imbalance between oxygen supply and consumption and the accumulation of lactate cause an increasing concentration of H+. As a consequence, intracellular pH decreases, resulting in acidity. Since the pulsed magnetic field (PMF) influences human physiology, many studies have reported its effect on anti-nociception as well as its improvement of blood circulation. Our study has tried to investigate the influence of PMF on blood's acid-base balance. In addition, the applicability of PMF to H+ pump inhibitor in tumor cells was evaluated using negatively-charged magnetic beads (MB). Tert-butyl hydroperoxide (tBHP) was used to oxidizing agents, in order to make an acidic environment similar to that in tumor cells. Our PMF stimulator has the maximum intensity of 0.27T at a transition time of 102 μs with pulse intervals of 1Hz. The changes in the pH of blood and the number of red blood cells (RBCs) attached to MB were examined before and after PMF stimulus. The blood treated with tBHP on RBC is more acidic than normal blood, but it was observed that the pH is restored after PMF stimulus. Also, it was confirmed that MB adheres more to the RBCs after PMF stimulus, which could indicate that PMF stimulus not only increases the zeta potential, but also reduces the H+ in the blood by combining MB with plasma cations. Further study is needed to optimize PMF stimulation conditions such as pulse shape, duration, or repetition rate for fast homeostasis recovery in acid-base unbalanced blood.