Effect of ac and dc magnetic field orientation on nerve cells.

Recent tests of the influence of parallel ac and dc magnetic fields on neurite outgrowth in PC-12 cells showed good agreement with the predictions of an ion parametric resonance model. However, experimental results from earlier work involving both a perpendicular (160 mG) and a parallel (366 mG) dc magnetic field were not as consistent with the ion parametric resonance model predictions. Test results reported here show that the cell response to perpendicular ac and de magnetic fields is distinct and predictably different from that found for parallel ac and dc magnetic fields, and that the response to perpendicular fields is dominant in an intensity-dependent nonlinear manner.