Blood and vascular targets for magnetic field dosing

This chapter discusses blood and vascular targets that relate to potential EMF impacts on blood flow and EMF-related forces that act on red blood cells (RBCs). Blood flow changes associated with EMF stimulation may occur in two generalized ways: one is related to potential blood property changes and the other to vascular and hemodynamic changes. Physiologically, changes in diameter occur when ion channels within the membranes of vascular smooth muscle (VSM) or endothelial cells (ECs) change state to allow more or less entry or exit of selective ions that control the relaxation state of the VSM. In assessing potential cellular or vascular EMF-related effects on blood flow, a key question is if and how much change (increase or decrease) occurs with an applied static magnetic fields (SMF) or pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF). Low-dose SMF affects proliferation rates of cultured human umbilical vein EC when administered for 24 h, but has no apparent effect on NO concentration.