Bio-electric conductivity potentials in experimental skin grafts.

Prior investigations have established that changes in bio-electric potentials accompany the processes of wound creation and healing. In order to investigate these changes in an experimental full-thickness skin graft model, grafts were harvested from the dorsa of eight albino rabbits. Changes in potential were recorded over a period of 32 days, using silver-silver chloride electrodes and a recording polygraph. The potential measured across the skin graft became increasingly more electropositive until, between days 1 and 2, the potential abruptly reversed polarity. This negative potential lasted until day 4, when the conductivity again became positive, with a slow return to baseline measurements by day 32. Although these observations may indicate a bio-electric counterpart to the cellular events of wound healing, more study is needed.