Reaction of melanocytes in vertebrate retina to the exposure to constant magnetic field

The influence of a constant magnetic field (strain 40 kA/m) on retina pigmentary cells of grass frog (Rana temporaria) and grey pigeon (Columba livia) eyes was investigated. Changes in the number and length of melanocytes appendixes were noticed accompanied by formation of thickenings in which melanosomes sized from 0.1 to 0.5 micron are moving. It is established that magnetic properties of eye retina pigmentary cells depend on the presence of Fe3+ in melanin. A theoretical model of paramagnetic receptor has been elaborated, according to which the induction of a magnetic field, formed by melanocyte, makes of the order 100 pT1. This value well compares with the size of magnetic field of a nervous impulse (120 pT1), extending throughout a nervous fibre of the frog sciatic nerve (Wikswo et al., 1980). This allows to suggest a possible unsynaptic way of transferring the information about the perceived magnetic field.