中等强度稳态磁场影响小分子结晶的初步探索

A Preliminary Study of the Effects of Moderate Intensity Static Magnetic Fields on Small Molecule Crystallization

葡萄糖、钙和钠等生命所需基本物质在维持生物体生理机能,改变电势能和调控细胞和细胞器功能等多项生命活动中起着关键作用。细胞功能的实现很大程度上依赖于特定分子在一定浓度下的聚集和解聚,而越来越多的证据表明相分离过程可能参与其中。溶液结晶本身也是一种特殊的相分离,虽然磁场影响溶液结晶已有零星报道,但不同参数磁场对不同物质结晶的影响尚未有报道。本文使用2种不同强度的外加磁场(0.036 T、0.068 T)对葡萄糖、葡萄糖酸钙和氯化钠的结晶过程进行了初步探究。试验结果显示:虽然2种磁场对3种物质析出晶体的质量影响程度不同,但均有促进;从结晶数量上来讲,磁场对葡萄糖和葡萄糖酸钙也有促进,但对氯化钠无显著影响。虽然溶液蒸发量受不同强度磁场影响不同,但与溶液质量浓度成反比。根据结果可以推测,对于蒸发结晶过程来说,磁场可能通过对蒸发量和对带电粒子的影响共同调控结晶过程。本研究通过对磁场影响结晶过程的初步探究,不仅为进一步研究磁场生物学效应及机制提供了理论基础,也为工业生产中提高结晶效率提供了新的思路。

Compartmentalization of the subcellular space increases the efficiency of many biological processes by concentrating and delivering the required components to a confined space within the cell,and phase separation plays a key role in the membrane-less compartmentalization and serves as a linker for this disorder to order transition.Influence of magnetic field on the liquid-liquid phase separation behavior has been reported in different systems,whereas the mechanism is still under debate.From a phenomenological viewpoint,crystallization is phase separation in a thermodynamically metastable supersaturated system.Glucose,calcium and sodium are essential to various physiological processes,such as regulating the electrical potential of cells and maintaining the cellular homeostasis and function.Investigation of the magnetic field effects on crystallization of these substances may provide insights on how magnetic field facilitate disorder to order transition,and therefore affect phase separation in biological systems.In this study,the processes of cooling crystallization of glucose and calcium gluconate and evaporative crystallization of sodium chloride with or without magnetic field being applied were recorded and compared.Our data suggested that magnetic field increased the weight of precipitated crystals of all three substances,but effects of different magnetic fields differed in degree.The number of precipitated crystals of glucose and calcium gluconate,but not sodium chloride,was affected by magnetic field as well.The evaporation rate was also affected differently by magnetic fields in a concentration dependent manner.This study not only provided a theoretical basis for the further study of the biological effects and mechanism of magnetic field,but also provided a new idea for improving the crystallization efficiency in industrial production.