Orientation of human glioblastoma cells embedded in type I collagen, caused by exposure to a 10 T static magnetic field.

We investigated the preferred orientation of human glioblastoma cells (A172) following exposure to static magnetic fields (SMF) at 10 Tesla in the presence or absence of collagen. A172 cells embedded in collagen gel were oriented perpendicular to the direction of the SMF. A172 cells cultured in the absence of collagen did not exhibit any specific orientation pattern after 7 days of exposure to the SMF. Thus we succeeded in evoking the magnetic orientation of human glioblastoma cells by exposure to the SMF. Our results suggest that the orientation of glioblastoma cell processes may be due to the arrangement of microtubules under the influence of magnetically oriented collagen fiber. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.