INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE
OF BIOPHYSICS
Conference
on Biophotons 1999
Abstracts of the Conference Reports in
alphabetic Order
THE ROLE OF THE COHERENT ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS IN BIOSYSTEMS'
FUNCTIONING
A.V. Budagovsky
Department of Biophysics I.V.Michurin's All-Russian Research Institute
for genetics and selection of fruit plants 393740 Tambov Region, Michurinsk
A.G.Gurwitsch's biological field theory (1944) initiated a principally
new, namely a field approach in understanding the organization of a living
matter. What we need now most of all is to create a physical interpretation
of the "biological field", its experimentally detected manifestations being
sometimes contradictory and ambiguous (Petuchov, 1983). Let us try to formalize
the task by regarding a "biofield" as an informational signal. Taking into
mind the properties of the biological systems the signal should be characterized
by: - small energetical capacity combined with a high hindrance resistance;
- high informational density; - weak absorption in the intra- and intercellular
environment; - strong selective absorption by receptive structures; - the
action area being no smaller than an average cell's diameter. The organisms
are embedded within the fields of a high intensity, broad frequency range
and, correspondingly, low degree of a statistical ordering. Under these
conditions a coherent mode of coding the regulatorial signals is most of
all hindrance-resisting and energetically advantageous (Achmanov et al.,
1981). By Seatlow (1961) and Kaznacheyev (1981) estimations, the density
of an information flow regulating cell metabolism should be about 109 byts/s
what corresponds to the optical range of electromagnetic waves. Cells as
a whole are enough transparent for the visible spectral range but some
membrane-bound chromophores (phytochrom, cryptochrom, cytochrom and others)
are able to absorb selectively light quanta of a definite energy level.
The participation of a coherent field in the communicational processes
depends upon the conditions providing its generation, propagation and detection.
There are strong evidences for suggesting that the living organisms are
endowed enough by all of these properties. It is both theoretically validated
(Dicke, 1954; Frohlich, 1968, 1980; Bychovsky, 1975) and experimentally
approved (Popp et al., 1981, 1984, 1994) that under the action of stochastic
factors the biopolymers being in a condensed phase are able to generate
cooperative excited states relaxed with the emission of coherent quanta.
Earlier the propagation of a coherent signal within the heterogeneous biological
medium have been considered as impossible (Krylov, 1980). Our investigations
permitted to conclude meanwhile that a coherent field retains its statistical
order required for a reliable detection at the distance of no less than
several dozens cell layers. Similarly, we demonstrated the ability of the
living organisms to distinguish (detect) quanta flows according to their
coherency degree (Budagovsky, 1994). In these experiments, a cell's diameter
fits the discrimination threshold. One may suggest that the chromophore-membrane
ensemble of a cell plays a role of a phase detector. Unexpectedly, this
has been confirmed by a comparison with Hertwig's nuclei-cytoplasmic ratio
(Budagovsky, 1990). Therefore, the correspondence between a coherent radiation
and a living organism is perfect enough for providing a field regulation
of biosynthetic processes. This is evidenced also by a distant intercellular
communication without requiring molecular or ionic mediators. Phase irregularity
was shown to hamper communication thus indicating the presence of a statistical
order of an informational signal (Kuzin et al., 1997). One of the mostly
vivid manifestations of a coherent field is a holographic induction of
morphogenesis. A projection of a hologram of a differentiated tissue upon
non-organized proliferated callus cells initiates the growth of the normal
organs (Budagovsky, Yevseyeva, 1995). Within the optical range the field
regulation does not go beyond the framework of the ubiquitous photobiological
processes, but the action of a coherent light appears to be much more effective
than of a stochastical (low coherency) one. This is also exemplified by
a wide known phenomenon of a laser stimulation. One may conclude that a
coherent electromagnetic field is an indispensable element of the biological
organization playing in the organisms a communicative role.
© International
Institute of Biophysics 2001 E-mail: iib@lifescientists.de
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