Application Of Bio-inspired Electromagnetic Fields(BIEMF) In The Treatment Of Cancer And Diabetes

Both cancer and diabetes have a high incidence rate and have become a serious global public health problem,posing a serious threat to human health and placing a heavy burden on patients and their families.Currently,cancer treatments mainly depend on chemotherapy,radiation therapy and surgery.These traditional treatments methods not only cause many side effects,but also are accompanied by a high rate of recurrence.On the other hand,the current treatment of type II diabetes mellitus(T2DM)mainly relies on improving lifestyle,using antidiabetic drugs,and supplementing exogenous insulin to control its progression.However,the treatment results are not satisfactory,for only half of the patients receiving treatment have their blood glucose levels under effective control.With the development of power industry,the biological effects of electromagnetic fields(EMFs)have attracted more and more attention.In 1979,Wertheimer investigated the impact of ultra-high voltage power stations on the incidence of childhood leukemia,which sparkled modern bioelectromagnetic research.Early researchers paid more attention to the negative effects of artificial EMFs on human health,in order to provide scientific basis to set EMF thresholds.In recent years,more and more positive biological effects of EMFs have been discovered,including the therapeutic effects on cancer,diabetes,neural system diseases,immune system diseases,skin wound healing,musculoskeletal diseases and other diseases,as well as other health-enhancing functions like antioxidants.Compared with traditional disease treatment methods,EMF therapy also has the advantages of better safety,less pain,noninvasion and ignorable side effects.As a new type of treatment,although EMF therapy has these advantages,it also has some obvious problems: 1)The mechanism for the biological effects of EMFs remains unclear;2)There are many experimental results that cannot be successfully reproduced and are even contradictory;3)The setting of EMF parameters for treatment is a blind choice.It is these problems that hinder the clinical application of EMF therapy.Although a number of mechanisms have been proposed for the bioelectromagnetic effects,such as free radical pair theory,biochemical thermodynamic model and ion oscillation model,etc.,these theories are still being questioned and have not been confirmed.The complexity of life systems and the huge gap between biology and physics limit the progress on understanding the mechanism of electromagnetic reception.The breakthrough in the study of the mechanism of bioelectromagnetic effects depends on the development of biophysics and related technologies.There are many conflicting experimental results that cannot be successfully reproduced,which is a serious problem in the field of bioelectromagnetics.Through literature research,we have found that although directionality is an important feature of vector fields such as EMFs,many studies have ignored the influence of directionality of EMFs on bioelectromagnetic effect.In this thesis,we have used the intracellular ATP level as the index to investigate the influence of EMFs in vertical,horizontal and parallel directions.The experimental results have shown that the biological effects of EMFs are directional.This finding provides valuable guidance for the verification of early conflicting literature and the future research on bioelectromagnetic effects.In EMF therapy,selecting the appropriate EMF parameters(frequency,intensity,waveform,etc.)is a very critical step.However,in the absence of a clear biological mechanism,most EMF studies can only choose these parameters arbitrarily,which leads to poor therapeutic effects and long experimental periods.Herein,we have proposed to use bionic methods to guide the selection of EMF parameters for disease treatment.Bionics is a methodology that applies the inspiration gained from nature to serve human life and industry.Human and other creatures have adapted to the EMF environment(such as the geomagnetic field,Schumann resonance,etc.)on earth.Some studies have shown that natural EMFs are beneficial to human health and can even assist in the treatment of certain diseases.Therefore,we advocate simulating the parameters of natural EMFs to design artificial EMFs for the treatment of diseases.We have named this artificial EMF mimicking natural EMFs as bionic electromagnetic fields(BIEMF).In this thesis,we have chosen Magna Field(?) as the BIEMF transmitter for our experimental research.It can emit BIEMF with an intensity equivalent to the geomagnetic field and a frequency comparable to most natural EMFs.First,we have confirmed that 0.5 Hz BIEMF has the ability to inhibit the proliferation of cervical cancer cells(Hela)in cell culture experiments.When the cell density increases to a certain level,the inhibitory effect of BIEMF on the proliferation of Hela cells disappears.Through preliminary studies on the mechanism,it is proposed that BIEMF inhibits the proliferation of Hela cells by interfering with cell mitosis and initiating cell apoptosis.Then,we have found that under high glucose conditions,10 Hz BIEMF can promote the uptake of glucose by liver cancer cells(Hep G2)without affecting the number of cells.Moreover,the combined use of BIEMF and antidiabetic drugs has a more significant effect on promoting glucose uptake than BIEMF alone.This shows that 10 Hz BIEMF has the potential to treat T2 DM.Through these above cell culture experiments,we have verified that BIEMF has the potential to treat cancer and T2 DM.This confirms the feasibility of applying the bionic method to the selection of EMF parameters for disease treatment.In order to better apply BIEMF to clinical treatment,we have designed a wearable BIEMF transmitter.The wearable BIEMF transmitter is designed as a coin-shaped independent unit.In actual treatment,multiple transmitters are used in combination.Based on the simulation with ANSYS Maxwell software,the optimal size of the designed BIEMF transmitting coil in flat hollow toroidal shape is: 3 mm for thickness,4 mm for inner diameter,and 10 mm for outer diameter.Compared with the transmitters arranged in a matrix,the intensity of the EMF emitted by the transmitters in a honeycomb-like arrangement is more uniform.Moreover,by making the actual BIEMF transmitter and building the BIEMF emitting system,the emitted BIEMF has been measured,which is basically consistent with the simulation results.Last,we have explored whether BIEMF can penetrate various layers of human tissues to reach target tissues or target organs.PTC Creo has been utilized to establish a 3D model of the human upper abdomen and liver,and then ANSYS Maxwell has been used to simulate the distribution of 10 Hz BIEMF in the human abdomen.Based on the simulation results of ANSYS Maxwell,the designed flat circular BIEMF transmitter in a honeycomb-like arrangement can successfully penetrate the tissue of the human abdominal wall and form a relatively uniform EMF distribution in liver.The initial design requirements have been fulfilled,and it has demonstrated the potential to act as the transmitter of a wearable BIEMF therapy device.