Effects of Magnetic Field and Magnetic Force on Proliferation and Differentiation of Osteoblast cells

This study investigated the effects of moderate static magnetic fields (moderate SMFs) with the high field gradients on proliferation and differentiation of mice osteoblast MC3T3 cells to clarify whether the magnetic field or the force contribute to the biological effect. Cells were exposed to SMFs of 75–239 mT with the field gradient (0.95–4.75 T
²
/m). No significant effect was observed in cell proliferation by moderate SMFs exposure. However, Osteocalcin (OC) productions, which is known as a biomarker of differentiation of osteoblasts, were significantly suppressed in the exposure group with the correlation between exposed magnetic field levels. Magnetic force had no effect on the cell proliferation or OC production. These results indicate that moderate SMFs affect the differentiation of osteoblasts without modifying the cell proliferations and the magnetic field itself, not magnetic force, may be the cause of the biological effects.