Exposure to Static Magnetic and Electric Fields Treats Type 2 Diabetes
Authors: Walter A Carter
Ginger L Milne
Michael J Miller
Ted B Piorczynski
Garry R Buettner
Calvin S Carter
Kyle Bradberry
E Dale Abel
Andrew W Norris
Brett A Wagner
Eric B Taylor
Kranti A Mapuskar
Wojciech J Grzesik
Douglas R Spitz
Sunny C Huang
Benjamin Cassaidy
Michael Acevedo
Kai Wang
Val C Sheffield
Antentor O Hinton Jr
Adam J Rauckhorst
Jason M Hansen
Deng-Fu Guo
Robert Weiss
Kelly C Falls-Hubert
Thomas K Pak
Kamal Rahmouni
David W Dick
Qihong Zhang
Vamsidhar Akurathi
Susan A Walsh
Charles C Searby
Journal: Cell Metabolism (2020)
Discipline: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS
Keywords: ROS; electromagnetic fields; glutathione; insulin resistance; liver
Affiliations: Department of Pediatrics and Division of Medical Genetics and Genomics, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA. Electronic address: ., Department of Pediatrics and Division of Medical Genetics and Genomics, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA; Medical Scientist Training Program, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA., Department of Pediatrics and Division of Medical Genetics and Genomics, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA., Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA., Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA., Department of Physiology and Developmental Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA., Department of Radiology, Division of Nuclear Medicine, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA., Free Radical and Radiation Biology Program, Department of Radiation Oncology, Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA., Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA., Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA., Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA., Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA; Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA., Medical Scientist Training Program, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA; Free Radical and Radiation Biology Program, Department of Radiation Oncology, Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA., College of Public Health, Department of Biostatistics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA., Department of Pediatrics and Division of Medical Genetics and Genomics, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA; Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA., Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA; Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA.

Abstract:  Aberrant redox signaling underlies the pathophysiology of many chronic metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methodologies aimed at rebalancing systemic redox homeostasis have had limited success. A noninvasive, sustained approach would enable the long-term control of redox signaling for the treatment of T2D. We report that static magnetic and electric fields (sBE) noninvasively modulate the systemic GSH-to-GSSG redox couple to promote a healthier systemic redox environment that is reducing. Strikingly, when applied to mouse models of T2D, sBE rapidly ameliorates insulin resistance and glucose intolerance in as few as 3 days with no observed adverse effects. Scavenging paramagnetic byproducts of oxygen metabolism with SOD2 in hepatic mitochondria fully abolishes these insulin sensitizing effects, demonstrating that mitochondrial superoxide mediates induction of these therapeutic changes. Our findings introduce a remarkable redox-modulating phenomenon that exploits endogenous electromagneto-receptive mechanisms for the noninvasive treatment of T2D, and potentially other redox-related diseases. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 Figure S2, panels G and J:  It appears that the same tGSK3beta blot was pasted for both the white adipose tissue and the skeletal muscle. , 
 December 1, 2020  It was brought to the attention of the authors that one reader requested that error bars be added in Figure 3G. Error bars were not presented for fold change because the SEM for the control data is zero, since all control values equal 1 after normalization. As this may cause confusion for some readers, the authors now include an alternative Figure 3G, which shows the paired data points for each primary human hepatocyte donor with control (untreated) and sBE-exposed as indicated in the figure. This alternative representation of the data does not change the analysis, which is still a mixed-effects model in which the cell line is the random effect and the treatment is the fixed effect. The data are statistically significant at p 0.01. This change has now been made online. This does not affect or change the outcome and conclusions of the experiments presented in the paper. See https: www.cell.com cell-metabolism fulltext S1550-4131(20)30596-9 This does not seem to address the concern identified in #1 ,