On the role of the interactions of ions with external magnetic fields in physiologic processes and their importance in chronobiology.

Homage to the scientific work of Franz Halberg is inevitably connected with the development and importance of chronobiology and its applications in chronomedicine. We show that nonlinear reaction-diffusion systems with feedsideward coupling give rise to oscillations between different limit cycles favoring either inhibition or stimulation of the growth or decay of a component. The inclusion of the diffusion part of each concentration distribution offers the possibility of also taking into account the interaction of charged constituents with external magnetic fields. Concentration oscillations between different limit cycles of the constituents can thus be stabilized. It is assumed that the z-component of the external magnetic field is related to the rather weak solar magnetic field (ca. 10(-9) Tesla). Periods of about one week result for some positive (Mg2+, Ca2+, K+) and negative (e.g. Cl-) ions and some organic acids containing phosphates. The resonance time of a free proton H+ determining the oscillations of the pH-value is about 1 day and that of OH1 is about 3.5 days (half a week). The influence of the geomagnetic field (x- or y-component) in the same range is of a few to ca. 20-30 minutes in the case of charged proteins. An essential condition for this separation is that in general the geomagnetic field does not coincide with the z-component of the solar magnetic field. As an example, the role of the timedependence of the growth and ATP-concentration of the irradiation of the tumor spheroid C3H-MA (mammary adenocarcinoma of mice) is presented.