Effects of static magnetic fields on Escherichia coli.

Abstract This paper represents the study of the biological effects of static magnetic fields (SMFs) on Escherichia coli ( E. coli ). The bacterial strain E. coli was exposed to SMFs in order to test its viability (evaluated by the number of colony-forming units (CFU)). In this study, we measured the dependence of CFU on the duration of exposure, on the treatment temperature T and on the value of the magnetic field induction B . The results showed that the number of CFU decreased with longer exposure time and higher treatment temperature (from 25 °C to 40 °C), whereas multiple extreme values of number of CFU were obtained when the induction B changed. In order to explain the results, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to investigate the morphology of the cells. We found obvious cell surface damage when the cells were exposed to SMFs.