Chronic exposure to a 2 mT static magnetic field affects the morphology, the metabolism and the function of in vitro cultured swine granulosa cells

cytoskeleton), the cell metabolism (intracellular Ca 2þ concentration [Ca 2þ ]i and mitochondrial activity) and the cell function (endocrine activity) were assessed. It has been found that the exposure to the field did not affect the cell viability, but the doubling time was significantly reduced (p , 0.05) in exposed samples after 72h of culture. At the same time, the cell length and thickness significantly changed (p , 0.05), while the cell orientation was unaffected. Evident modifications were induced on actin and a-tubulin cytoskeleton after 3 days of exposure and, simultaneously, a change in [Ca 2þ ]i and mitochondrial activity started to become evident. Finally, the SMF exposure of GCs longer than 72h determined a significant alteration of progesterone and estrogen production (p , 0.05). In conclusion, our results demonstrate that the chronic exposure of swine GCs to a 2mT SMF exerts a negative effect on cell proliferation, morphology, biochemistry and endocrine function in an in vitro model.