Figure 7. Flow diagram showing dcEF-induced early and late events in a single calvarial or SaOS-2 osteoblast cell.

Strong dcEF triggers a local elevation in intracellular calcium (in seconds) on the anode-facing cell side followed by a shift (in minutes) opposite to migration direction, towards the anode, and finally, directed migration (in hours) towards cathode in a calvarial cell (upper panel). Similar mechanism, but in an opposite direction, translates the local increase in [Ca²⁺]_i at cathode facing side of a SaOS-2 cell into the movement towards anode (lower panel).