Table 1.

Summary of the bioelectrical properties of bone tissue

Electrical properties	Definition	Mechanisms	Key references
Dielectric properties	Capacity for polarization of negative and positive charges upon exposure to an electric field	Application of an electrical field leads to separation of hydrogen bonds between hydroxyapatite (HA) and collagen	Ray and Behari[ 14 ]
Piezoelectric properties	Capacity to generate electricity upon application of mechanical stimuli	Mechanical force causes sliding of collagen fibers against each other. This results in dipole rearrangement and subsequent separation and polarization of –CO– and –NH– groups on collagen, which in turn generates electrical potential	Nair et al.[ 15 ]
Pyroelectric properties	Capacity to generate electricity via polarization of negative and positive charges due to changing temperature	Changing temperature distorts collagen triple helical structure, resulting in polarization of charged amino acid residues, thereby generating electrical potential	Ravi et al.[ 16 ]
Ferroelectric properties	Capacity to display reversible spontaneous polarization and hysteresis loop even in the absence of an external electric field	In the absence of an external electric field, collagen fibers can spontaneously and reversibly change their orientation in different directions	El Messiery et al.[ 17 ]
Streaming potential	Electrical potential is generated by fluid and ion flow, driven by mechanical loading of bone	Mechanical stimuli on bone due to physical activity, drives the flow of fluids containing charged ions through the canaliculi and pores of bone tissue. An electric potential is generated by this flow of ions against the charged bone surface.	Gross and Williams[ 18 ]
Electro‐osmosis	Fluid flow through a narrow channel is driven by an electric field	Interstitial fluid flow through the channels and pores of bone tissue (canaliculi, lacunae) is driven by endogenous electrical potential in bone (e.g., piezoelectric potential)	Crolet et al.[ 19 ]