Effect of information fields from written texts on cell growth and mitochondrial functions in-vitro: An exploratory study

• Published in: Explore (New York, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2022-03, Vol.18 (2), p.205-209
• Main Authors: Feng, Qian, Chen, Yu, Wang, Lin, Li, Mengmei, Teng, Jie, Chen, Yuming, Cai, Zhongzhen, Rein, Glen, Tang, B. Qing, Bai, Xuemei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adenosine Triphosphate - analysis; Adenosine Triphosphate - metabolism; Animals; Asian People; Attitude; Bias; Biomedical Research; Cell growth; Cell Growth Processes - physiology; Cell Line; Effect of texts; Glutathione - analysis; Glutathione - metabolism; Humans; Mice; Mitochondria - metabolism; Mitochondrial function; Writing
• ISSN: 1550-8307; 1878-7541
• DOI: 10.1016/j.explore.2020.12.001

•Written words with different meaning showed effect on specific biochemical measures in cultured mammalian M1 cells.•Words with positive meaning such as love and compassion enhanced the ATP production and antioxidant capacity of cells as demonstrated by the boosted GSH.•Words with negative meaning repressed the growth of M1 cells significantly. Mitochondria are considered a portal to receive, process and integrate external energy and information to maintain cellular homeostasis. We examined the effect of Chinese texts with positive and negative meaning on the growth and mitochondrial functions using a mouse kidney collecting duct cell line called M1 cells. To avoid skewing the results due to differential handling of the cells or analyzing the results, we conducted experiments by keeping the texts and blanks covered in brown opaque envelopes, exposed the cells to randomly selected envelopes and examined the differences over time. All operators involved in the experiments did not know the contents of the envelopes until the end of the experiments, and all data are expressed relative to the controls. Cell growth rate was not affected for the group treated with positive information but was significantly reduced by 18% when treated with negative information. At the biochemical level, positive texts significantly increased whole cell adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and glutathione (GSH) by 22% and 21% respectively. This study for the first time demonstrated the effect of written words on specific biochemical measures in cultured mammalian cells.