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ELECTRICAL EFFECTS IN BONE

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C. ANDREW L. BASSETT · 1965

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Bone generates a small electric current when mechanically deformed, suggesting that its response to mechanical stress is mediated by electric fields.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

This 1965 Scientific American article by C. Andrew L. Bassett reviewed evidence that bone generates a small electric current when it is mechanically deformed. The article suggests that the changes that occur in living bone under mechanical stress are mediated by electric fields.

Why This Matters

Bassett's 1965 article lays out why bone's response to mechanical load may be electrical. Bone is highly crystalline, and strips of bone gradually deformed in his laboratory generated electricity roughly in direct proportion to the amount of deformation until the plastic range was reached. Weak direct currents influenced bone formation in living animals, with new bone forming around the negative electrode in dogs, and influenced the alignment of collagen molecules in solution outside the body. The article states that the experiment on artificial continuous currents did not establish a conclusive link between stress-induced potentials and the activity of bone cells.

Figures from the Original Paper

Diagrams extracted from the original research document.

diagramPage 5 - The structure of an osteon is shown in three dimensions, highlighting the arrangement of collagen fibers and hydroxyapatite crystals within bone tissue.
p. 5 of the original PDF
diagramPage 6 - AI-described figure: The fine structure of bone is illustrated at three levels of magnification: a cross-section without its inner marrow, a section showing collagen fibers and hydroxyapatite crystals, and a detailed juxtaposition of these components.
p. 6 of the original PDF
diagramPage 7 - A diagram illustrating an experiment to measure current produced when bone is bent, showing a bone specimen with electrodes and a plunger.
p. 7 of the original PDF
graphPage 8 - The graph illustrates the increase in electrical output (vertical axis) as a function of deformation percentage (horizontal axis), showing data for bone strips with different widths.
p. 8 of the original PDF
diagramPage 9 - AI-described figure: The diagram illustrates the process of bone growth and deformation in response to negative charge and electric current.
p. 9 of the original PDF
Cite This Study
C. ANDREW L. BASSETT (1965). ELECTRICAL EFFECTS IN BONE.
Show BibTeX
@article{electrical_effects_in_bone_g6805,
  author = {C. ANDREW L. BASSETT},
  title = {ELECTRICAL EFFECTS IN BONE},
  year = {1965},
  
  
}
No DOI on file for this study.

Quick Questions About This Study

When bone is deformed it generates a small electric current, roughly in direct proportion to the amount of deformation until the plastic range is reached. Bassett's laboratory work suggests the source of electricity is a multitude of tiny junctions between collagen and hydroxyapatite.
The changes that occur in living bone under mechanical stress appear to be mediated by electric fields. Regions under compression are usually negatively charged, and experiments showed that bone growth is enhanced in regions of negative charge.
Small batteries implanted in dogs' thighs with platinum electrodes projecting into the marrow space produced a larger mass of new bone only around the negative electrode, while inactive electrodes produced small masses of new bone. This showed that bone growth is enhanced in regions of negative charge, but did not establish a conclusive link between stress-induced potentials and the activity of bone cells.
While Bassett's study didn't address this directly, it established that bones rely on precise electrical signals for healing. This raises legitimate scientific questions about whether chronic exposure to artificial electromagnetic fields could potentially disrupt these natural bioelectric processes.
When drops of collagen in solution were subjected to a current comparable to that calculated for living bone responding to deformation, a band of collagen formed within one to five minutes at right angles to the direction of the electric field, near the negative electrode.