Author(s)

Bryce P. Mulligan, Noa Gang, Glenn H. Parker, Michael A. Persinger

Department of Biology, Behavioural Neuroscience Program.
Department of Biology, Behavioural Neuroscience Program, Biomolecular Sciences Program, Laurentian University,Sudbury, Canada.
Department of Biology, Behavioural Neuroscience Program,Biomolecular Sciences Program, Laurentian University,Sudbury, Canada.

Synergistic interactions between specific magnetic field intensities and chemical concentrations are challenging biophysical phenomena. Planarian were exposed to one of five different concentrations of melatonin and to a “geomagnetic”—patterned 7 Hz amplitude modulated magnetic field for 6 min once per hour for 8 hr during six successive nights. The peak average strengths were within the range (50 nT) or outside the range (200 nT) derived by the equation. As predicted by a resonance equation planarian displayed highly statistically significant decreased relative activity within the 50 nT, 10^–7 to 10^–6 M melatonin conditions compared to lower or higher concentrations. The effect explained about 30% of the variance in these changes of activity. Activity of planarian exposed to the same melatonin concentrations but to the 200 nT field did not differ significantly from each other or from those exposed to the 50 nT field in concentrations of melatonin <10^–7 M or >10^–6 M. These results suggest the existence of non-linear, “narrow-band” mechanisms involving the numbers of molecules within a distance determined by the boundary of the organism and the intensity of naturally-patterned magnetic fields derived from energy rather than force-based resonances.

Resonance; Planarian; Melatonin; Magnetic Fields; 7 Hz

B. Mulligan, N. Gang, G. Parker and M. Persinger, "Magnetic Field Intensity/Melatonin-Molarity Interactions: Experimental Support with Planarian (Dugesia sp.) Activity for a Resonance-Like Process," Open Journal of Biophysics, Vol. 2 No. 4, 2012, pp. 137-143. doi: 10.4236/ojbiphy.2012.24017.