This study was undertaken to investigate whether low frequency magnetic
fields can affect the characteristic of cancer cells. To achieve this, HL-60 cells were exposed to 20 mT, 50 Hz sinusoidal magnetic field and the cell
viability, cell cycle phase distribution, DNA ladder and apoptotic
morphology between control and exposed cells were examined. The results
demonstrated that magnetic field had pronounced inhibition effects on cell
growth, and small but significant changes in cell cycle phase can be
observed. Internucleosomal DNA fragmentation and morphological changes after
exposure indicate that the magnetic field induces apoptosis in HL-60 cells.
The results also indicate that the growth-inhibitory property of MF on HL-60 cell growth was mainly due to the induction of apoptosis.