cytogenetic effects of magnetic and radiofrequency fiel ds of nmri systems on the frequency of chromosomal aberrations inhuman lymphocytes in the presence or absence of cytosine arabinoside

application of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (nmri) as a non-invasive and accurate imaging procedure has been widely used in recent years. meanwhile, the biological effects of magnetic fields of several tesla (t) and high energy radiofrequency (rf) is not fully known yet. because of controversy over this issue, the present research has been carried out in order to verify the effects of magnetic fields of 1.5 t and rf of 63.86 mhz on the frequency of chromosomal aberrations in human peripheral lymphocytes. using metaphase analysis technique, the cytogenetic effects of nmri was studied in go and g2lymphocytes in the presence or absence of cytosine arabinoside (ara-c) as a dna repair inhibitor. cells were cultured using conventional methods. results obtained indicate that exposure of lymphocytes to nmri field at 30 and 60 minutes has no potential effects on chromosomal aberration induction. when using ara-c, although ara-c alone caused a rather high frequency of chromosomal aberrations, especially in g2 phase of the cell cycle, exposure of cells to nmri in the presence of ara-c did not change the frequency of ara-c-induced damage significantly. our results indicate that nmri may not be able to produce dna damage that could be potentiated by ara-c. similar responses were also observed for cells exposed to nmri either in vivo or in vitro. nevertheless much remains unknown about the certain effects of mri and rf.