Are stress responses to geomagnetic storms mediated by the cryptochrome compass system?

A controversial body of literature demonstrates associations of geomagnetic storms (GMS) with numerous cardiovascular, psychiatric and behavioural outcomes. Various melatonin hypotheses of GMS have suggested that temporal variation in the geomagnetic field (GMF) may be acting as an additional zeitgeber (a temporal synchronizer) for circadian rhythms, with GMS somehow interfering with the hypothesized system. The cryptochrome genes are known primarily as key components of the circadian pacemaker, ultimately involved in controlling the expression of the hormone melatonin. Cryptochrome is identified as a clear candidate for mediating the effect of GMS on humans, demonstrating the prior existence of several crucial pieces of evidence. A distinct scientific literature demonstrates the widespread use of geomagnetic information for navigation across a range of taxa. One mechanism of magnetoreception is thought to involve a light-dependent retinal molecular system mediated by cryptochrome, acting in a distinct functionality to its established role as a circadian oscillator. There is evidence suggesting that such a magnetosense--or at least the vestiges of it--may exist in humans. This paper argues that cryptochrome is not acting as secondary geomagnetic zeitgeber to influence melatonin synthesis. Instead, it is hypothesized that the cryptochrome compass system is mediating stress responses more broadly across the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis (including alterations to circadian behaviour) in response to changes in the GMF. Two conceptual models are outlined for the existence of such responses--the first as a generalized migrational/dispersal strategy, the second as a stress response to unexpected signals to the magnetosense. It is therefore proposed that GMS lead to disorientation of hormonal systems in animals and humans, thus explaining the effects of GMS on human health and behaviour.     

The response of European Daphnia magna Straus and Australian Daphnia carinata King to changes in geomagnetic field

This study investigates the effects of lifelong exposure to reversed geomagnetic and zero geomagnetic fields (the latter means absence of geomagnetic field) on the life history of Daphnia carinata King from Australia and Daphnia magna Straus from Europe. Considerable deviation in the geomagnetic field from the usual strength, leads to a decrease in daphnia size and life span. Reduced brood sizes and increased body length of neonates are observed in D. magna exposed to unusual magnetic background. The most apparent effects are induced by zero geomagnetic field in both species of Daphnia. A delay in the first reproduction in zero geomagnetic field is observed only in D. magna. No adaptive maternal effects to reversed geomagnetic field are found in a line of D. magna maintained in these magnetic conditions for eight generations. Integrally, the responses of D. magna to unusual geomagnetic conditions are more extensive than that in D. carinata. We suggest that the mechanism of the effects of geomagnetic field reversal on Daphnia may be related to differences in the pattern of distribution of the particles that have a magnetic moment, or to moving charged organic molecules owing to a change in combined outcome and orientation of the geomagnetic field and Earth's gravitational field. The possibility of modulation of self-oscillating processes with changes in geomagnetic field is also discussed.     

Lake sediments as recorders of geomagnetic field variations — applications to dating post-Glacial sediments

Field and laboratory methods, developed to recover the record of past secular variations of geomagnetic declination and inclination carried by the remanent magnetization of some lake sediments, are described. Type curves, delineating these parameters through post-Glacial time, have now been constructed for Europe and east-central N. America. These curves, once established for any region, are useful for dating lake sediments from that region. The principal inclination features exhibited by the European curves can also be identified along the N. American curves with a delay of some 600 years, on average.     

Deterioration of murine embryonic fibroblasts and early embryos upon magnetic field deprivation

Attenuation of the ambient magnetic field to 200 nT (1/250 of normal GMF) is shown to be detrimental for cultured primary embryonic fibroblasts (lowered adhesion and viability, disruption of preformed monolayer, and permeabilization) and two-cell murine embryos (abrupt cessation of development, blastomere disorientation, permeabilization and cytoskeletal alterations). These data further demonstrate the importance of the geomagnetic field for normal cell proliferation and embryogenesis in mammals.     

Evaluation of changes in diatom mobility after exposure to 16-Hz electromagnetic fields

The effect of a 16-Hz electromagnetic field on the mobility of the diatom Amphora coffeaformis was examined on agar plates that contained no added calcium and also on agar plates containing 0.25 or 2.5 mM exogenous Ca2+. Exposure conditions consisted of an ac field of 16 Hz with an amplitude of 20.9 microT parallel to the horizontal component of the dc field (BH = 20.9 microT, where BV = 0). To assess results, the percentage of diatoms that moved a distance greater than their body length was determined. We observed the field-associated increase in diatom motion at 0.25 mM Ca++, which was previously reported in the literature. Although the magnitude of the effect at 16 Hz was significant, the percentage of cells that moved was not sufficiently reproducible to allow examination for frequency dependence.     

Magnetite and magnetotaxis in microorganisms

Magnetotactic bacteria from freshwater and marine sediments orient and navigate along geomagnetic field lines. Their magnetotactic response is based on intracellular, single magnetic domains of ferrimagnetic magnetite, which impart a permanent magnetic dipole moment to the cell.     

Influence of weakened constant magnetic field on nerve cell excitability

Attenuation of the constant magnetic field by a factor of 200–250 (to ～0.2 μT) raised the excitation threshold and decreased the amplitude of the action potentials in the isolated frog sciatic nerve, and altered the conformation of carotenoids in the plasma membrane (sciatic axolemma) as well as in intracellular vesicles (cytosomes of snail ganglia). The variation in nerve excitability was supposedly caused by changes in the ordering of membrane lipids.     

Distortion of the local magnetic field appears to neither disrupt nocturnal navigation nor cue shelter recognition in the amblypygid Paraphrynus laevifrons

Many arthropods are known to be sensitive to the geomagnetic field and exploit the field to solve spatial problems. The polarity of the geomagnetic field is used, for instance, as an orientation cue by leafcutter ants as they travel on engineered trails in a rainforest and by Drosophila larvae as they move short distances in search of food. A ubiquitous orientation cue like the geomagnetic field may be especially useful in complex, cluttered environments like rainforests, where the reliability of celestial cues used to navigate in more open environments may be poor. The neotropical amblypygid Paraphrynus laevifrons is a nocturnal arachnid that wanders nightly in the vicinity of its shelter and occasionally travels 30 m or more in the rainforest understory before it returns to its shelter. Here, we conducted a field experiment to determine whether navigation by P. laevifrons is guided by the ambient magnetic field and a complimentary laboratory experiment to assess whether a magnetic anomaly could be used to pinpoint the entrance of a shelter. In the field experiment, subjects were fitted with a radio transmitter and a small, powerful magnet or a similar-sized brass disk and displaced 10 m from their shelter. The return rate of magnet-fitted subjects was similar to that of brass-fitted subjects and to that of subjects in an earlier study fitted with only a radio transmitter. In the laboratory experiment, we trained P. laevifrons with a protocol under which the amblypygid Phrynus marginemaculatus rapidly learns—in 1–14 trials over two daily sessions—to associate an olfactory stimulus with access to a shelter. The conditioned stimulus here was a magnetic anomaly characterized by a high total field intensity and a 180° reversal of the polarity of the ambient magnetic field. The magnetic anomaly-shelter contingency was not learned in 50 trials conducted over 10 daily sessions. These results imply prima facie that P. laevifrons does not rely on a magnetic compass to locate or recognize a shelter and, perhaps, that the magnetic field cannot be detected, but alternative explanations are discussed.     

Electric-field ion cyclotron resonance

We consider the possibility that DC magnetic fields can interact in a resonant manner with endogenous AC electric fields in biological systems. Intrinsic electric-field ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) interactions would be more physically credible than models based on external AC magnetic fields and might be expected as an evolutionary response to the long-term constancy of the geomagnetic field. Bioelectromagnetics 17:85–87, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Altered development of Xenopus embryos in a hypogeomagnetic field

The hypogeomagnetic field (HGMF; magnetic fields <200 nT) is one of the fundamental environmental factors of space. However, the effect of HGMF exposure on living systems remains unclear. In this article, we examine the biological effects of HGMF on the embryonic development of Xenopus laevis (African clawed frog). A decrease in horizontal third cleavage furrows and abnormal morphogenesis were observed in Xenopus embryos growing in the HGMF. HGMF exposure at the two‐cell stage, but no later than the four‐cell stage, is enough to alter the third cleavage geometry pattern. Immunofluorescent staining for α‐tubulin showed reorientation of the spindle of four‐cell stage blastomeres. These results indicate that a brief (2‐h) exposure to HGMF is sufficient to interfere with the development of Xenopus embryos at cleavage stages. Also, the mitotic spindle could be an early sensor to the deprivation of the geomagnetic field, which provides a clue to the molecular mechanism underlying the morphological and other changes observed in the developing and/or developed embryos. Bioelectromagnetics 33:238–246, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

生物地磁响应研究进展

地球上的生物每时每刻都受到地球磁场的影响.本文从介绍磁场及地球磁场入手,详细阐述了生物对地球磁场的磁响应现象.从候鸟到厌氧细菌,大量生物已被证实可对磁场产生生理和行为响应,即表现为磁场影响生物的生理发育,且提供地磁信息作为"罗盘"与"地图",指导动物远距离迁徙或短距离扩散等.关于生物磁响应的机制,目前有两种假说得到广泛认可,即磁颗粒介导的磁受体假说和依赖光并基于自由基对的磁响应假说,而近期由中国科学家提出的磁蛋白生物指南针模型更是引起了广泛关注,但至今尚缺乏生物活体验证.目前,全球变化背景下的地磁场变化面临加剧风险,而国际上(尤其是国内)对生物磁响应现象的研究才刚刚起步,相关研究亟待深入开展,以便为应对地磁场变化提供基于生物磁响应的科学依据.     

Navigational challenges in the oceanic migrations of leatherback sea turtles

The open-sea movements of marine animals are affected by the drifting action of currents that, if not compensated for, can produce non-negligible deviations from the correct route towards a given target. Marine turtles are paradigmatic skilful oceanic navigators that are able to reach remote goals at the end of long-distance migrations, apparently overcoming current drift effects. Particularly relevant is the case of leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea), which spend entire years in the ocean, wandering in search of planktonic prey. Recent analyses have revealed how the movements of satellite-tracked leatherbacks in the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are strongly dependent on the oceanic currents, up to the point that turtles are often passively transported over long distances. However, leatherbacks are known to return to specific areas to breed every 2–3 years, thus finding their way back home after long periods in the oceanic environment. Here we examine the navigational consequences of the leatherbacks'' close association with currents and discuss how the combined reliance on mechanisms of map-based navigation and local orientation cues close to the target may allow leatherbacks to accomplish the difficult task of returning to specific sites after years spent wandering in a moving medium.     

Seasonal variations in myocardial infarctions and the possible biotropic influence of short-period geomagnetic pulsations on the human cardiovascular system

Analysis of ambulance calls in Moscow during 1979–1981 reporting myocardial infarction (85 700 events), sudden death (71 700 events), and hypertension crises (165 500 events) shows the presence of clear seasonal variations with a deep summer minimum and a winter maximum. The same trend was upon analysis of monthly data on infarction mortality in Bulgaria over 15 years (1970–1985). One of the biotropic factors influencing the human cardiovascular system can be geomagnetic pulsations Pc1, agreeing in frequency with cardiac rhythms. In the seasonal trend, Pc1 have maximum intensity in winter. The comparison of data on ambulance calls in Moscow with the Pc1 observation data catalog revealed that, on ～70% of days, an abnormally large number of myocardial infarction calls was accompanied by the presence of Pc1; their concurrence was half again the chance expectation. Besides, it was determined that the biotropic influence of magnetic storms in winter was much higher than in summer. One of the plausible reasons of the winter infarction maximum could be seasonal variations in the production of the pineal hormone melatonin, which destabilized the organism and increased its sensitivity to geomagnetic disturbances attended by Pc1.     

Do ambient electromagnetic fields affect behaviour? A demonstration of the relationship between geomagnetic storm activity and suicide

The relationship between ambient electromagnetic fields and human mood and behaviour is of great public health interest. The relationship between Ap indices of geomagnetic storm activity and national suicide statistics for Australia from 1968 to 2002 was studied. Ap index data was normalised so as to be globally uniform and gave a measure of storm activity for each day. A geomagnetic storm event was defined as a day in which the Ap index was equal to or exceeded 100 nT. Suicide data was a national tally of daily male and female death figures where suicide had been documented as the cause of death. A total of 51 845 males and 16 327 females were included. The average number of suicides was greatest in spring for males and females, and lowest in autumn for males and summer for females. Suicide amongst females increased significantly in autumn during concurrent periods of geomagnetic storm activity (P = .01). This pattern was not observed in males (P = .16). This suggests that perturbations in ambient electromagnetic field activity impact behaviour in a clinically meaningful manner. The study furthermore raises issues regarding other sources of stray electromagnetic fields and their effect on mental health.     

Influence of local geomagnetic storms on arterial blood pressure

This study attempts to assess the influence of local geomagnetic storms at middle latitudes on some human physiological parameters. The blood pressure (bp), heart rate and general well-being of 86 volunteers were measured, the latter by means of a standardised questionnaire, on work days in autumn, 2001 (1 Oct to 9 Nov), and in spring, 2002 (8 April to 28 May). These timespans were chosen as periods of maximal expected geomagnetic activity (GMA). Altogether, 2799 recordings were obtained and analysed. A four factor analysis of variance (MANOVA) was employed to check the significance of the influence of four factors (local GMA level; sequence of the days of measurements covering up to 3 days before and after geomagnetic storms; sex and the presence of medication) on the physiological parameters under consideration. Post hoc analysis was performed to elicit the significance of differences in the factors' levels. Arterial bp was found to increase with the increase of the GMA level, and systolic and diastolic bp were found to increase significantly from the day before till the second day after the geomagnetic storm. These effects were present irrespective of sex and medication.     

A role for the magnetic field in the radiation-induced efflux of calcium ions from brain tissue in vitro

Two independent laboratories have demonstrated that electromagnetic radiation at specific frequencies can cause a change in the efflux of calcium ions from brain tissue in vitro. In a local geomagnetic field (LGF) at a density of 38 microTesla (microT), 15- and 45-Hz electromagnetic signals (40 Vp-p/m in air) have been shown to induce a change in the efflux of calcium ions from the exposed tissues, whereas 1- and 30-Hz signals do not. We now show that the effective 15-Hz signal can be rendered ineffective when the LGF is reduced to 19 microT with Helmholtz coils. In addition, the ineffective 30-Hz signal becomes effective when the LGF is changed to +/- 25.3 microT or to +/- 76 microT. These results demonstrate that the net intensity of the LGF is an important variable. The results appear to describe a resonance-like relationship in which the frequency of the electromagnetic field that can induce a change in efflux is proportional to a product of LGF density and an index, 2n + 1, where n = 0,1. These phenomenological findings may provide a basis for evaluating the apparent lack of reproducibility of biological effects caused by low-intensity extremely-low-frequency (ELF) electromagnetic signals. In future investigations of this phenomenon, the LGF vector should be explicitly described. If the underlying mechanism involves a general property of tissue, then research conducted in the ambient electromagnetic environment (50/60 Hz) may be subjected to unnoticed and uncontrolled influences, depending on the density of the LGF.     

褐飞虱成虫体内磁性物质检测

地磁定向是昆虫远距离迁飞定向的重要机制之一.本研究以褐飞虱Nilaparvata lugens长翅型和短翅型成虫为研究对象,利用MPMS-7型号超导量子干涉磁强计(磁场范围为±4.8 mA/m,温度范围为1.9 ～ 400 K)检测虫体内的磁性物质,明确其体内的分布状况.结果表明:褐飞虱长翅型雄成虫整个虫体的温度退磁曲...