50 Hz magnetic field effect on the morphology of bacteria

Atomic force microscopy was used to distinguish changes in morphology of bacteria induced by 50 Hz 10 mT magnetic field exposure. It is known that alternating magnetic field exposure causes decrease of viability of different bacterial strains. Previously we found that the viability of rod-like bacteria exposed to magnetic field decreased twice more in comparison with the spherical ones. Motivated by this fact we carried out this study with bacterial cells of both shapes. We used Escherichia coli (rod-like) and Paracoccus denitrificans (spherical) bacteria. As a result we have not observed any change in bacterial morphology neither of rod-like nor of spherical bacteria after 1 h, 50 Hz and 10 mT magnetic field exposure. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.