iScienceNov 29, 2022

Therapeutic magnetic resonance may long-lastingly reduce sugar breakdown in cells

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Apr 5, 2026

Abstract

Therapeutic Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (tNMR) significantly alters cellular metabolism in NIH3T3 cells under both normoxia and hypoxia.

tNMR treatment reduces glycolysis, lactate production, extracellular acidification rate, and the ratio of ADP/ATP.
Cytosolic reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels decrease following tNMR treatment.
In contrast, mitochondrial and extracellular ROS levels, along with cellular proliferation, increase after tNMR treatment.
The metabolic changes are more pronounced under hypoxic conditions, with reduced glycolysis and constant mitochondrial respiration during reoxygenation.
tNMR may serve as a therapeutic approach for ischemia-driven diseases such as inflammation, infarct, stroke, and cancer.

Simplified

Electromagnetic fields are known to induce the clock protein cryptochrome to modulate intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) via the quantum based radical pair mechanism (RPM) in mammalian cells. Recently, therapeutic Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (tNMR) was shown to alter protein levels of the circadian clock associated Hypoxia Inducible Factor-1α (HIF-1α) in a nonlinear dose response relationship. Using synchronized NIH3T3 cells, we show that tNMR under normoxia and hypoxia persistently modifies cellular metabolism. After normoxic tNMR treatment, glycolysis is reduced, as are lactate production, extracellular acidification rate, the ratio of ADP/ATP and cytosolic ROS, whereas mitochondrial and extracellular ROS, as well as cellular proliferation are increased. Remarkably, these effects are even more pronounced after hypoxic tNMR treatment, driving cellular metabolism to a reduced glycolysis while mitochondrial respiration is kept constant even during reoxygenation. Hence, we propose tNMR as a potential therapeutic tool in ischemia driven diseases like inflammation, infarct, stroke and cancer.

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Funding

Competing interests

The present research article was funded by MedTec in Wetzlar, Germany, project number database 350088. A European patent is pending (Nr. 10 2017 114 856.6).

PubMed

Therapeutic magnetic resonance may long-lastingly reduce sugar breakdown in cells

Abstract

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Funding

Competing interests

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