Origin of the osseous bioelectric potentials: a review

Recently, an electrophysical approach has been applied to the study of the long bone in order that a more complete understanding of its growth and structural integrity become available. Experimental studies have indicated that weak electric fields may be detected in living bone, in vivo, as the result of externally applied loads, normal weight bearing and pulsatile blood flow. In addition, physiological information may be derived from these electropotentials as functions of their magnitude and polarity. Several sources of these natural osseous bioelectric potentials have been proposed including piezoelectricity, electrokinetic phenomena, p-n semi-conductor junctions, pyroelectricity and photoelectricity. In this paper, these sourcesof bioelectricity are examined, their origins elucidated and their importance ranked in accordance with the maintenance of the structural integrity of the bone.