QUASI-STATIC CHARGE INTERACTIONS IN BONE

Observations of bone's parallel arthitectural and electrical responses to forces have led to suggestions that one or both of the signals mediate the osteogenic response by directly triggering bone-cell activity. This study was undertaken to determine whether piezoelectric polarization could alter bone-cell physiological function. Piezoelectric and non-piezoelectric forms of the polymer polyvinylidene fluoride were implanted in rats, and the effect on periosteum and bone was studied histologically. More bone formation and periosteal reaction occurred in association with the piezoelectric form of polyvinylidene fluoride. Neither mechanical nor chemical factors could account for the results, which therefore must have been due to the quasi-static piezoelectric polarization (about 90 pC/cm**2). The osteoprogenitor cell but not the mesenchymal cell (its less differential precurso) was capable of responding to the polarization.