English

Magnetic isotope effects: a potential testing ground for quantum biology

Biological Physics 2023-01-23 v1 Medical Physics Biomolecules Quantum Physics

Abstract

One possible explanation for magnetosensing in biology, such as avian magnetoreception, is based on the spin dynamics of certain chemical reactions that involve radical pairs. Radical pairs have been suggested to also play a role in anesthesia, hyperactivity, neurogenesis, circadian clock rhythm, microtubule assembly, etc. It thus seems critical to probe the credibility of such models. One way to do so is through isotope effects with different nuclear spins. Here we briefly review the papers involving spin-related isotope effects in biology. We suggest studying isotope effects can be an interesting avenue for quantum biology.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2301.08554,
  title  = {Magnetic isotope effects: a potential testing ground for quantum biology},
  author = {Hadi Zadeh-Haghighi and Christoph Simon},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2301.08554},
  year   = {2023}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T08:16:10.321Z