• Static magnetic field promotes the effects of doxorubicin in osteosarcoma cells
  • Fatemeh Rajabi,1,* Behnam Hajipour-Verdom,2 Parviz Abdolmaleki,3 Negar Motakef‑Kazemi,4
    1. Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University
    2. Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University
    3. Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University
    4. Department of Nanochemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University (IAUPS)


  • Introduction: Cell death is an event that stops the functions of cells. Indeed, it is an uncontrolled process that occurs due to various factors such as physical factors (pressure, osmotic forces, and temperature), chemical factors (severe pH changes), and mechanical factors (shear forces) or may controlled by genes including apoptosis, necrosis and autophagy-dependent on cell death. Apoptosis removes old, damaged, excess and harmful cells and is essential for tissue development and homeostasis. Iron is a vital nutrient that facilitates cell proliferation and growth. However, iron also has capacity to engage in redox cycling and free radical generation. Therefore, iron can contribute to both tumor initiation and tumor growth. Targeting iron metabolic pathways could be a new concept to predict and treatment of cancer. It produces reactive oxygen species (ROS) through Fenton reaction that cause oxidative damages to DNA, proteins, and lipids. Cancer cells have high levels of iron so cancer cells increase the expression of receptors and enzymes related to iron homeostasis. Free radicals attack a variety of biological molecules and cause to structural and biochemical changes. Also, they impact on cellular functions and promote the cell death. The products of these lesions can be used as biomarkers of oxidative stress in the evaluation and diagnosis of cancers. Doxorubicin is one of the most effective drug in chemotherapy. It is inactive in the extracellular but can be activated with formation of single electron redox-cycle into the cell. Doxorubicin affects on cell function through the production of free radicals and interfere with double-strand DNA that led to prevent macromolecule synthesis. Magnetic fields extend the lifetime and production of free radicals, and plays an important role in the intracellular and extracellular ROS. Understanding the different types of cell death and its associated factors is essential for choosing the appropriate treatments for cancer. Chemotherapy is used for a wide range of cancers, but it has many side effects on normal cells. Magnetic fields are a non-invasive physical approach that can be used alongside chemotherapy.
  • Methods: Osteosarcoma G-292 cells was allowed to grow in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM) in the neutral PH (7.2–7.4) supplemented with 10% (v/v) heat-inactivated (50°C, 30min) Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) and 2mM glutamine, 100 units/mL of penicillin and 100mg/mL of streptomycin at 37 °C and 5% CO2 in a humidified incubator overnight. The cells were treated with various concentration of doxorubicin and 10 mT SMF that generated by a local-designed magnetic fields generator. The cell viability and ROS content were measured in both exposure times (24 and 48 h).
  • Results: Our results showed that static magnetic field and doxorubicin increased the ROS content and decreased the cell viability in the G-292 osteosarcoma cells.
  • Conclusion: Static magnetic field extends the lifetime of free radicals and plays an important role in the intracellular and extracellular ROS levels. Doxorubicin as a chemotherapy drug can cause to ROS production as well as DNA degradation. These oxidant agents destroy macromolecules and eventually induce cell death.
  • Keywords: Magnetic field; Reactive oxygen species; Osteosarcoma; Doxorubicin; Cell death.