Estimation of the energy of cytoplasmic movements by magnetometry: effects of temperature and intracellular concentration of ATP.

Ferrimagnetic particles (gamma-Fe2O3) were spontaneously phagocytized by pulmonary macrophages obtained from the lungs of hamsters. By the magnetometric method proposed earlier, changes in the energy of the movements of the intracellular structures and also that of the apparent viscosity of the cytoplasm were estimated. The changes were created by lowering the incubation temperature or by decreasing the intracellular concentration of ATP. While the low temperature decreased the energy and increased the apparent viscosity, the low concentration of ATP decreased the energy but had little effects on the apparent viscosity. Estimation of the these parameters was based on the model previously proposed.