Mechanism of Action of the Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Field on Aqueous Solutions of Biopolymers

Abstract

This paper presents the transformation mechanism of a signal from the magnetic component of a low-frequency electromagnetic field with extremely low energy into a chemical and biochemical response in aqueous solutions of nucleic acids and proteins. The developed theoretical model shows that oxidative DNA damage and conformational transitions in proteins are based on a universal mechanism for changing the amount of the most long-lived form, hydrogen peroxide, in a chemical oscillator of mutual transformations of reactive oxygen species under a low-intensity electromagnetic field. It has been experimentally found that the content of hydrogen peroxide in solutions of biopolymers resonantly depends on the frequency of the applied field. Conformational changes in proteins are accompanied by increasing accessibility and activity of the nucleophilic centers, which are potential targets for reactive oxygen species. Complete unfolding and denaturation of the protein amino-acid chain in a low-frequency electromagnetic field did not occur. It has been shown that the enhanced formation of hydrogen peroxide at 3 and 50 Hz leads to oxidative modification of nitrogenous bases in DNA.