Stress fiber contributes to rat Schwann cell orientation under magnetic field

This paper examines the role of cytoskeletons, such as stress fibers, on magnetic orientation of Schwann cells after strong magnetic field exposure (8-T in maximum). Schwann cells were cultured from dissected sciatic nerves of neonatal rats. Schwann cells oriented parallel to the magnetic field after 60 h of more than 4-T magnetic field exposure. Actin fibers oriented in the direction of the magnetic field after 60 h of 8-T magnetic field exposure but randomly oriented without magnetic field. Orientation of Schwann cells was not observed by inhibiting stress fiber formation using Y-27632, an inhibitor of small guanosine triphosphatases (GTPase) Rho-associated kinase. Our results indicate that the magnetic field elicits reorientation of actin fibers through Rho kinase to allow a response to magnetic orientation of Schwann cells.