Effect of magnetic and electric fields on plasma membrane of single cells: A computational approach

Abstract

Cell membrane is a lipid bilayer that allows the flow of ions through their ionic pumping proteins. The ionic flow can be stimulated with external stimuli to activate specific signaling pathways intracellularly. Although studies have applied electric and magnetic stimuli to modify the cell function, the parameters to stimulate the cell membrane are unknown. Accordingly, a computational model to simulate the effect of electric and magnetic fields on the cell membrane was developed. Cells were stimulated with electric fields from 45 × 103 V/m to 12.6 × 105 V/m and magnetic fields of 2 mT, at frequencies of 60 kHz, 10 MHz, and 1 GHz. Results showed that the electric fields applied to the cell membrane tend to increase according to the frequency used, while magnetic fields do not have any effect on it. It was observed that electric fields generate a high voltage concentrator in the cell membrane of ellipsoidal cells when a frequency window from 1 kHz to 1 GHz was applied. These findings demonstrate that depending on the intensity of the field and frequency, it was possible to stimulate different cell membrane zones. This model is a promising tool to establish the adequate parameters to stimulate cells, and accurately predict if the stimulation modifies the cell membrane potential.