50 Hz Electromagnetic Field Produced Changes in FTIR Spectroscopy Associated with Mitochondrial Transmembrane Potential Reduction in Neuronal-Like SH-SY5Y Cells.

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis was used to detect molecular-level changes, revealing a reduction in intensity of the amide A band and a slight increase of vibration bands at 2921 cm−1 and 2853 cm−1 corresponding to methylene groups. Increasing the magnetic field intensity up to 0.8 mT and 1.4 mT produced a clear increase in intensity of CH2 vibration bands. Some alterations in the amide I region were also observed, including a shifted peak of the amide I band to a smaller wavenumber, which the researchers suggested was probably due to protein conformational changes. The results suggested that exposure to extremely low electromagnetic fields influenced lipid components of cellular membrane and the N–H in-plane bending and C–N stretching vibrations of peptide linkages, modifying the secondary structures of α-helix and β-sheet contents and producing an unfolding process in cell membrane proteins. The researchers concluded that exposure to a 50 Hz electromagnetic field higher than 0.8 mT was able to produce conformational changes in different biological structures, and that these alterations can be associated to reduction of mitochondrial transmembrane potential and cell viability.