Modulation of radical pairs dynamics immersed in an ELF-EMF: The effect on hepatocarcinogenesis

Abstract

The most suitable mechanism of action of electromagnetic fields (EMF) on biological systems is the effect on the radical pair (RP) recombination through the Zeeman effect and hyperfine interaction, which changes the rate of reactions or the product distribution. Enzyme reactions with RP intermediates can be altered by EMF, like those catalyzed by cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP450), a heme-thiolate family protein that detoxifies xenobiotics and involved in chemical carcinogenesis. CYP450 activate chemical carcinogens producing an enormous amount of free radicals, which damage the DNA resulting in the malignant transformation of cells. During the activation, CYP450 produce spin-correlated RP intermediates that can either go to recombination or to continue the catalytic process. As CYP450 are electron carrier proteins, it is possible that RP intermediates may be affected by EMF. It was previously found that periodic treatment with extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) inhibits more than 50% the number and area of preneoplastic lesions in rats with chemically induced hepatocarcinogenesis through reduction of cell proliferation. In this work, we developed a quantum mechanical model based on RP mechanism in order to explain the experimental effects of ELF-EMF on the free radicals produced in the early stages of chemical carcinogenesis.