Very little research has been conducted on low intensity level infrasound yet therapeutic devices based on infrasound are commercially available. The documented negative effects of high decibel infrasound on biological organisms suggest the possibility that infrasound, like most medicines, could have both negative and positive effects depending on dosage. We have investigated a therapeutic device designed to reproduce the infrasonic emissions of Qigong practitioners and found evidence that low level infrasound can sensitize human glioma cells to the chemotherapeutic agent 5-flourouracil. This proposed exploratory research project would determine whether this chemosensitizing potential of infrasound generalizes to multiple glioma cell models and whether a dose relationship is evident. Both long-term (clonogenic survival) and short-term (cell viability) analyses of glioma cell proliferation will be used to assess the efficacy of infrasound combined with chemotherapeutic agents. The mode of cell death induced by experimental treatments will be assessed by flow cytometry (TUNEL method). Because studies of related modalities (shock-waves and ultrasound) have implicated temporary disruption of the plasma membrane as the mechanism of action for enhanced drug delivery, we will assess the effects on membrane permeability of infrasound treatment by monitoring the uptake of calcein by fluorescence microscopy. We will also evaluate human astrocyte cultures as a model of a non-neoplastic counterpart to glioma cells. In addition to the in vitro studies, an athymic rat model will be used to evaluate the chemosensitizing potential of infrasound on intracranial solid tumors. The in vitro and in vivo models developed through the proposed work are advantageous for establishing critical features of biofield devices, in general, because they allow objective measurements that are rapid and inexpensive compared to clinical models. ? ? ?
| Rachlin, Kenneth; Moore, Dan H; Yount, Garret (2013) Infrasound sensitizes human glioblastoma cells to cisplatin-induced apoptosis. Integr Cancer Ther 12:517-27 |
