The Quantum Biology of Reactive Oxygen Species Partitioning Impacts Cellular Bioenergetics

Abstract

Quantum biology is the study of quantum effects on biochemical mechanisms and biological function. We show that the biological production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in live cells can be influenced by coherent electron spin dynamics, providing a new example of quantum biology in cellular regulation. ROS partitioning appears to be mediated during the activation of molecular oxygen (O2) by reduced flavoenzymes, forming spin-correlated radical pairs (RPs). We find that oscillating magnetic fields at Zeeman resonance alter relative yields of cellular superoxide (O2•−) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) ROS products, indicating coherent singlet-triplet mixing at the point of ROS formation. Furthermore, the orientation-dependence of magnetic stimulation, which leads to specific changes in ROS levels, increases either mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis rates. Our results reveal quantum effects in live cell cultures that bridge atomic and cellular levels by connecting ROS partitioning to cellular bioenergetics.

Oxygen, evolution and redox signalling in the human brain; quantum in the quotidian

“…; Usselman et al . ), forcing a reappraisal of currently (i.e. classically) accepted concepts and revealing more complex cellular and molecular mechanisms than previously thought (Fig.…”

“…Could the mitochondrial formation of free radicals, themselves sub-atomic species, exploit quantum-based signalling to preserve cerebral O 2 homeostasis? Preliminary evidence suggests that this may well be the case with formation of 'spin-correlated radical pairs' mediated by weak magnetic fields, as well as mitochondrial electron tunnelling and entanglement (Usselman et al 2014;Nunn et al 2016;Usselman et al 2016), forcing a reappraisal of currently (i.e. classically) accepted concepts and revealing more complex cellular and molecular mechanisms than previously thought (Fig.…”

Effects of time delays on biological feedback systems and electromagnetic field exposures

“…Early works on the exposures of biological systems to microwaves show that even when the biological system was held at constant temperatures, there were changes in membrane resistance that differed from the first exposures to the second, and there was a time delay in the response [Arber and Lin, ,b]. More recent works show that magnetic fields have been shown to modify ROS concentrations [Georgiou, ; Castello et al, ; Usselman et al, , ].…”

“…Early works on the exposures of biological systems to microwaves show that even when the biological system was held at constant temperatures, there were changes in membrane resistance that differed from the first exposures to the second, and there was a time delay in the response [Arber and Lin, 1985a,b]. More recent works show that magnetic fields have been shown to modify ROS concentrations [Georgiou, 2010;Castello et al, 2014;Usselman et al, 2014Usselman et al, , 2016.Time delays in the response of biological feedback systems are common in many biological systems including those of the immune system and biological repair systems. In this paper, we will present a simple model based on an electronic operational amplifier with a time delay t in the feedback loop that shows that by changing the frequency, phase, or pulse repetition rate of an externally applied signal, we can change the sign of the feedback and thus switch the gain of the overall amplifier from amplification to attenuation.…”

Making sense of oxygen; quantum leaps with ‘physics‐iology’

“…Mitochondrial formation of 'spin-correlated radical pairs' , generated through activation of molecular O 2 by reduced flavins (Usselman et al, 2016), superposition, tunnelling, entanglement and altered coherence triggered by changing mitochondrial membrane potential, have since emerged as quantum contributors implicated in the coordinated regulation of cellular bioenergetics, coupling electron flow and protonation through a process known as redox tuning at a quantum coherence 'sweet spot ' (de Vries, Dorner, Strampraad, & Friedrich, 2015;Nunn, Guy, & Bell, 2017). The nuclear spin properties of phosphorous allow for quantum processing in the brain via transfer of information (qubits) via quantum-entangled pairs protected by so-called Posner clusters, affecting neurotransmitter release and neuronal firing rates, notwithstanding enhanced chemical reactivity of ROS (Fisher & Radzihovsky, 2018).…”