Prevention and treatment of sciatic denervation disuse osteoporosis in the rat tibia with capacitively coupled electrical stimulation.

Osteoporosis in the sciatic-denervated rat tibia was both prevented and reversed with a capacitively coupled electrical field. In both the prevention of the development of osteoporosis and the reversal of a previously established osteoporosis, a statistically significant enhancement of wet weight, dry weight, ashed weight, ultimate strength, cortical area, cortical thickness, and a concomitant decrease in cortical porosity occurred in the stimulated, denervated tibiae of the experimental animals compared with the nonstimulated, denervated tibiae of the control animals. These effects exhibited dose-response characteristics. A 60 kHz symmetrical sinewave signal was effective in preventing osteoporosis at a range of 5-10 peak-to-peak, and it was effective in reversing osteoporosis at 10 V peak-to-peak. Reversal of a well-established osteoporosis in laboratory animals has not been reported previously. Continued investigation into the use of a capacitively coupled electrical field in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis seems warranted from these studies.