ABSTRACT
Sciatic neurectomy was performed on the right limb in 30 rats divided into three groups. On the first postoperative days, stainless steel capacitor plates were applied parallel to each other over the midtibial region of the right, neurectomized limb m each animal in the latter two groups, which were stimulated continuously with a 60kHz sinawave signal delivering 5-10V from peak to peak. The first group was served as controls and received no electrical stimulation. At the completion of 12d of electrical stimulation, all rats were sacrificed. A statistically significant enhancement of wet weight, dry weight, ashed weight, ultimate strength and bone density occurred in the stimulated, denervated tibiae of the experimental animals compared with the nonstimulated, denervated tibiae of the control animals. The results show that a sciatic neurectomized osteoporosis was prevented in the tibiae by a capacitively coupled electrical field.