From: rabjab@golem.ucsd.edu (Jeff Bytof)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Bioeffects of magnetic field deprivation
Date: 13 Sep 92 06:47:14 GMT
Organization: sio
NNTP-Posting-Host: lutherlab.ucsd.edu


Since the beginning of the year I've been looking into some rather astounding 
results offered by experimenters working in the area of the bioeffects
of magnetic field deprivation.  In view of the relevance to
manned lunar and interplanetary exploration and biological research,
I am posting the following information to sci.space and sci.bio. 

I. Quote from "Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Working 
   Group on Extraterrestrial Resources", NASA SP-177 (1968), page 6:

          "The possible biological effects of the low lunar 
           magnetic field are not known, but recent studies
           summarized by Busby indicate that they may be  
           significant.  In an experiment in which mice were
           raised in magnetically shielded cylinders, abnormal
           behavior, loss of hair, and early death were exhibited
           after the fourth generation..." 

II. Quote from "Biomagnetics: Considerations Relevant to Manned Space Flight",
    by Douglas E. Busby, M.D., NASA CR-889 (1967), pp. 10-12:

          "...During the past 18 months, these investigators [M.H. 
           Halpern and J.H. Van Dyke] have kept Swiss/Webster white
           mice and their progeny in mu-metal cylinders 8 inches in
           internal diameter and 24 inches in length, oriented in the
           East-West direction.  Mu-metal is an austentitic, nickel-
           iron-chromium-copper alloy of high magnetic permeability
           and low corrosion resistance.  The magnetic field intensity
           in the cylinders apparently remained well below the 100
           gamma level.  Control mice have lived in similar aluminum
           cylinders, which do not have an appreciable attenuating effect
           on the Earth's magnetic field.  The floors and end enclosures
           (inset one inch from the ends) of all cylinders consisted of
           non-magnetic, stainless steel, hardware cloth.  The cylinders
           and cages were intermixed and adequate temperature, humidity
           and ventilation of them insured.  The adult population
           of each cylinder was kept under 8 mice.

          "As pointed out in a preliminary, unpublished report, an
           unspecified number of originally four-month-old male and
           female mice were maintained continuously in mu-metal
           cylinders for periods of 4 to 12 months.  Each shield
           originally contained a single mouse family of one male and
           three females (Group I).  Data is not available on the 
           number of mouse families this experiment was started with.
           First generation (F-1) mice litters were equally divided
           at weaning time (21 days), one-half (Group II) being
           retained in the mu-metal cylinders and the other half
           (Group III) being placed in the aluminum cylinders.  Group I
           females were continuously re-mated with their original males.

          "In contrast to the normally-thriving control mice in the
           aluminum cylinders, the mice in the mu-metal cylinders have
           presented a characteristic, rather bizarre picture.  Premature
           mating and frequent pregnancies have produced larger but
           apparently normal litters.  By the F-4 generation, repro-
           duction has usually ceased.  Unanticipated cannibalism and
           abortions of newborn mice has been encountered to a greater
           degree in the F-2 generation (and subsequent F-1 generations
           of the original animals) than in the F-3 and F-4 generations.
           At an early age, large numbers of mu-metal mice have become
           docile and inactive.  Many mice have exhibited the highly
           unusual behavior of lying on their backs for prolonged periods
           of time.  About 14 per cent of the adult population has
           developed a characteristic and progressive alopecia over the 
           top of the head to at least half way down the back.
           Interestingly, there are no known mice which have the 
           genetic trait of developing hair loss as adults.  Coarse hair,
           characteristic of aged mice, has also appeared at an early
           age.  Death has occurred prematurely, often as early as 6
           months of age.

          "Histopathological observations have been made on selected
           organs from 36 Group I mice.  Although the same manifestations
           were not always present in the same organs of all mice at
           the time of sacrifice, positive alterations, either grossly
           or microscopically, were apparent in most of the animals
           studied.  Connective tissue and epithelial tumors, which
           have frequently been found in various loci, remain to
           be studied further microscopically.

          "The skin has been found to be hyperplastic, but only in
           areas of alopecia, and characteristically has an undisturbed
           basement membrane, excessive mitotic activity in the basal
           layer, columnar-shaped granulosa cells, a hyperkeratotic
           stratum corneum, and hair follicle plugging with hyper-
           plastic squamous epithelium.  The livers of all experimental
           mice studied have shown the presence of hemosiderin crystals
           in the Kupfer cells to a variable degree.  In addition,
           liver tissue from these animals has clearly exhibited nuclear
           changes characterized by increased numbers and noticeable
           enlargement of their nucleoli, suggesting perhaps some
           alteration in the metabolism of ribonucleoproteins.
           Periperal blood smears showed very noticeable deposits of
           hemosiderin within polymorphonuclear leucocytes, and a very
           high incidence of reticulocytosis.

          "Most kidneys studied were polycystic to some degree, the
           cysts often markedly compressing adjacent cortical parenchyma.
           Many experimental mice, especially those examined after
           spontaneous death, had their urinary bladders distended with
           urine and apparently a white precipitate.  In at least a 
           third of these mice, the bladder mucosa was markedly hyper-
           plastic, forming trabeculae and polypi.  The combined findings
           of the polycystic kidneys and bladder precipitate suggested
           that certain of these animals might have succumbed from uremic
           poisoning.  Notably, no bladder parasites have been found in
           either the experimental or the control mice.

          "The ovaries had numerous large, persisting corpus lutea,
           which often entirely encapsulated this organ.  Few follicles
           were in evidence, in spite of the high incidence of pregnancy
           in these animals.  In many mice, the uterus has been somewhat
           enlarged having numerous epithelial cyst formations in the
           endometrium.

          "Van Dyke and Halpern have pointed out that what they are 
           observing in the mu-metal mice is a diffuse, hyperplastic
           condition.  They cannot foresee any possible cause of this
           condition other than the chronic exposure to the extremely
           low-intensity magnetic field.  It is suggested that a 
           detailed evaluation of the protocols and conditions of 
           this experiment should be made for the possibility of
           infectious, genetic or other factors being responsible for
           these unusual results.  At present [1967], none of these
           protocols have been made available to other investigators
           or this reviewer." 

III. In January, I contacted Dr. Myron Halpern, now retired.  I 
     questioned him about his experimental results.  I asked him
     about the possibility of mu-metal poisoning, which he held to
     be very unlikely.  The experiments ended in the late sixties
     when funding ceased.  The Apollo project was apparently satisfied
     that there were no problems with short-term (two week) exposure to low
     magnetic field strengths.  Halpern was adamant that his work
     had brought up many questions that remained unanswered and was
     anxious to see others do additional experiments to check his results 
     and to determine the mechanisms by which the absence of a magnetic
     field would affect organisms.  Halpern still retains his mu-metal
     cylinders.

IV.  I next contacted researchers in NASA's Life Sciences Division at
     Ames Research Center.  One recalled an early short-term 
     experiment with low magnetic fields, but there are no experiments
     ongoing or planned within NASA.   

V.   A literature search came up with this title: 

     "Magnetic Shielding Induces Early Developmental Abnormalities
      in the Newt, Cynops pyrrhogaster", M. Asashima, K. Shimada, and
      C. Pfeiffer (Bioelectromagnetics 12:215-224 (1991)).

     Quote of the abstract:

     "Developing larvae of the Japanese newt, Cynops pyrrhogaster, were
      subjected for 5 days to a shielded environment in which the static
      magnetic field was about 10,000 times weaker (5 nT) than the
      geomagnetic norm, which ranges between 30 and 60 micro Teslas
      at the earth's surface.  Larvae from non-cleavage to neurula stages
      were exposed under shielded or normal (control) conditions and
      then examined for evidence of developmental abnormalities either
      1 day or 20 days after treatment.  The magnetic shielding was
      associated with an increased incidence of somatic defects, 
      especially in larvae that were examined 20 days after shielding.
      Bi-headedness and intestinal protrusion were observed in
      magnetically shielded larvae but not in controls. Other abnormalities
      more frequently observed in shielded larvae were spinal curvature,
      malformed eyes, and retarded or blocked development.  These data
      are among the first to illustrate the effects of magnetic-field
      deprivation on a developing animal."

VI. I wrote a letter to Dr. Makoto Asashima, Dept. of Biology, Yokohama
    University, one of the authors above.  He replied, "I have a plan
    to conduct more extensive low magnetic shielded experiments."
    They have a different method of producing low magnetic
    fields than Halpern and Van Dyke.  They are using a magnetically
    shielded facility of the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical
    Science at Sagamihara.  I believe Dr. Asashima also has some 
    responsibility for life experiments on the current or a future 
    shuttle flight.

----------------

Jeff Bytof
rabjab@golem.ucsd.edu 
Newsgroups: sci.bio