Evidence of Electrical Hysteresis in Bones

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate: (1) the electrical behavior of bone samples when low (<100 mV) stationary voltages are applied; (2) the reproducibility of successive high impedance (200 TΩ) voltage measurements; and (3) the existence of a spontaneous potential, suggested by previous work. We studied 16 cow bone samples, eight fresh and eight old. We applied analysis of variance to verify the constancy of the bone resistance and the behavior of the time constants. We found that: (1) the existence of a spontaneous potential, on the order of magnitude 10 m V, is confirmed; (2) one constant of time, out of two in a double exponential model, strongly depends on the current direction (p < 0.001); (3) the characteristic voltage-current curve shows a hysteresis loop, maximum amplitude 15% of the full current range; and (4) voltage measurements should be considered perturbative with respect to the electrical response of the samples.

Key Words:

• Bones
• Dielectric properties
• Hysteresis
• Characteristic curve
• Spontaneous potentials