Quantification of adherent cell orientation and morphology under strong magnetic fields

The effect of magnetic fields on the orientation of adherent cells was investigated quantitatively using a long-term magnetic field exposure system at 8 T. Smooth muscle cells, which are classified as adherent cells, were passaged and dispersed in Dulbecco´s Modified Eagle´s Medium (DMEM). A cell culture flask was filled to capacity with the smooth muscle cell suspension, and placed in the center of a superconducting magnet´s bore. The smooth muscle cell culture was incubated for 3 days, and exhibited randomly oriented patterns of rod-like shaped cells without magnetic field exposure. In contrast, the smooth muscle cell culture exposed to 8 Tesla (T) magnetic fields for 70 hours changed into a one-directionally oriented cell culture. To quantify the orientational order, an orientational order parameter for a 2-dimensional system was introduced by adapting the 3-dimensional order parameter. The degree of orientation of the culture with 8 T magnetic field exposure for 70 hours was 0.72, while the degree of orientation without exposure was 0.21. The results indicated that the magnetic orientational order of smooth muscle cells was lower than that of floating cells