Luben R A
Division of Biomedical Sciences, University of California, Riverside 92521.
Health Phys. 1991 Jul;61(1):15-28. doi: 10.1097/00004032-199107000-00002.
The vertebrate organism possesses a number of internal processes for signaling and communication between cell types. Hormones and neurotransmitters move from one cell type to another and carry chemical "messages" that modulate the metabolic responses of tissues to the environment. Interaction with these signaling systems is a potential mechanism by which very low-energy electromagnetic fields might produce metabolic responses in the body. Hormone and neurotransmitter receptors are specialized protein molecules that use a variety of biochemical activities to pass chemical signals from the outside of a cell across the plasma membrane to the interior of the cell. Since many low-energy electromagnetic fields have too little energy to directly traverse the membrane, it is possible that they may modify the existing signal transduction processes in cell membranes, thus producing both transduction and biochemical amplification of the effects of the field itself. As an example of the kinds of processes that may be involved in these interactions, one metabolic process in which the physiological effects of low-energy electromagnetic fields is well established is the healing of bone fractures. The process of regulation of bone turnover and healing is reviewed in the context of clinical applications of electromagnetic energy to the healing process, especially for persistent nonunion fractures. A hypothetical molecular mechanism is presented that might account for the observed effects of electromagnetic fields on bone cell metabolism in terms of the fields' interference with signal transduction events involved in the hormonal regulation of osteoblast function and differentiation.
脊椎动物机体拥有许多内部过程，用于细胞类型之间的信号传递和通讯。激素和神经递质从一种细胞类型转移到另一种细胞类型，并携带化学“信息”，这些信息可调节组织对环境的代谢反应。与这些信号系统的相互作用是一种潜在机制，通过该机制，极低能量的电磁场可能在体内产生代谢反应。激素和神经递质受体是特殊的蛋白质分子，它们利用多种生化活性将化学信号从细胞外部穿过质膜传递到细胞内部。由于许多低能量电磁场的能量太少，无法直接穿过细胞膜，因此它们有可能改变细胞膜中现有的信号转导过程，从而产生该场本身效应的转导和生化放大。作为这些相互作用中可能涉及的过程类型的一个例子，低能量电磁场的生理效应已得到充分证实的一个代谢过程是骨折愈合。在电磁能对愈合过程的临床应用背景下，特别是对于持续性骨不连骨折，对骨转换和愈合的调节过程进行了综述。提出了一种假设的分子机制，该机制可能解释电磁场对骨细胞代谢的观察到的影响，即电磁场干扰了参与成骨细胞功能和分化的激素调节的信号转导事件。
