Magnetic resonance image (MRI) systems with a much higher magnetic flux densitywere developed and applied for potential use in medical diagnostic. Recently, much attention hasbeen paid to the biological effects of static, strong magnetic fields (SMF). With the 13 T SMFfacility in the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the present study focusedon the cellular effects of the SMF with 13 T on the cell viability and the cell cycle distributionin immortalized hamster cells, such as human-hamster hybrid (A_L) cells, Chinese hamster ovary(CHO) cells, DNA double-strand break repair deficient mutant (XRS-5) cells, and human primaryskin fibroblasts (AG1522) cells. It was found that the exposure of 13 T SMF had less effect onthe colony formation in either nonsynchronized or synchronized A_L cells. Moreover, as comparedto non-exposed groups, there were slight differences in the cell cycle distribution no matter ineither synchronized or nonsynchronized immortalized hamster cells after exposure to 13 T SMF.However, it should be noted that the percentage of exposed AG1522 cells at G0/G1 phase wasdecreased by 10% as compared to the controls. Our data indicated that although 13 T SMF hadminimal effects in immortalized hamster cells, the cell cycle distribution was slightly modified bySMF in human primary fibroblasts.
