Electromechanical potentials in cortical bone--II. Experimental analysis

Abstract

The electrokinetic model developed in Part 1 of this paper is used to characterize the electromechanical effect in cortical bone. Low frequency characteristics of stress-generated potentials are measured to provide insight into the origin and generation of these potentials induced in fluid-filled cortical bone. The results support the proposed model and indicate that fluid movement within the microporosity of bone is responsible for observed potentials whose origin is electrokinetic. The microporosity in bone, composed of the fluid spaces in and around mineral crystals encrusting collagen fibrils, constitutes an enormous surface area and appears to dominate surface-related phenomena at low frequencies. Previous experimental results, reported by many researchers, are also supported by this mechanism.