Muscle injury potentials: a source of voltage in the undeformed rabbit tibia.

in recent years the conversion of mechanical to electrical energy by bone and many other connective tissues, rather like a piezoelectric effect, has been substantiated by a number of investigations (Bassett l971a and b). Furthermore, streaming potentials have been observed in these several tissues. Hypothetically, these bioelectric phenomena may be involved in regulating the architecture of connective tissues. Such a control system may require cells to respond to stress-induced changes in their electrical environment, which through additive and subtractive events may reach “threshold” levels (Bassett 197!b). If this hypothesis has validity, it is important to characterise as many sources of bioelectric polarisation in bone as possible. In 1966 Friedenberg and Brighton demonstrated that resting potentials could be detected on the surface of the undeformed tibia of the rabbit. The present study was undertaken in an attempt to identify the relative contributions of living cells-any inherent charge in the extracellular matrix of bone, muscle, and the circulatory and nervous systems-to these resting potentials. It has succeeded in confirming that this type of potential does exist in undeformed bone. On the other hand, the major portion of the measured voltage seems to result from muscle injury potentials and may be artifactual.