The Effects of Moderate to High Static Magnetic Fields on Pancreatic Damage

Background: Pancreatic damage is a common digestive system disease with no specific drugs. Static magnetic field (SMF), the key component of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), has demonstrated prominent effects in various disease models.

Purpose: To study the effects of 0.1-9.4 T SMFs on pancreatic injury induced by alcohol, and acute pancreatitis (AP) induced by L-arginine (L-Arg).

Study type: Prospective, animal model.

Animal model: Twelve healthy C57BL/6J male mice, 30 AP model male mice, and 30 alcohol-associated liver disease (AALD) model male mice.

Field strength/sequence: 1.5-9.4 T SMFs for 12 hours and 0.1 T SMF for 72 hours. No imaging sequence was used.

Assessment: Histological analysis on AALD mice pancreas was conducted. For L-Arg-induced AP mice, their body weight, food/water consumption, open field behavior, blood analysis, as well as histological analysis, inflammatory, oxidative stress of the pancreas were measured. In vitro cellular experiments were also conducted.

Statistical tests: Data are presented as means ± SD and analyzed using the two-tailed Student's t-test or one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. P values <0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results: 1.5-7 T SMFs significantly reduced alcohol-induced pancreatic damage, increasing the structurally intact acinar area from 51.5% to 78.3%, whereas the effect of 9.4 T SMF is not obvious. 0.1 T SMF can reduce the AP mice lethality, increase the structurally intact acinar area from 31.0% to 59.7%, associated with the reduced pancreatic inflammatory responses (78.1% reduction of F4/80 and 80.0% reduction of MPO), 20.0% decreased oxidative stress and 53.2% reduced pancreatic cell apoptosis.

Data conclusion: High-field MRI may be safe for pancreatic-related diseases at the animal level. SMFs have a future potential to be developed as non-invasive and highly penetrating physical modalities for the treatment of pancreatic injury including AP.

Plain language summary: This study aims to evaluate the safety and potential therapeutic effects of moderate- to high-intensity static magnetic fields (SMFs) on mice with pancreatic injury. Their findings revealed that SMFs between 1.5 and 7 Tesla (T) helped reduce alcohol-induced pancreatic damage, while a stronger 9.4 T showed no effect. Interestingly, for mice with L-arginine-induced acute pancreatitis, a weaker 0.1 T significantly increased the area of healthy acinar cells from 31.0% to 59.7%. These results not only suggest that MRI-related SMFs are safe for pancreatic diseases in animals, but also unravel the potential of SMFs as a future treatment option for pancreatic disorders.

Evidence level: N/A TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 1.