The Use of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields to Promote Bone Responses to Biomaterials In Vitro and In Vivo

Table 1

The table summarizes the in vitro and in vivo studies on the effects of PEMF stimulation on osteoblastic primary cells and cell lines on calcium phosphate biomaterials. Studies are listed in chronological order.

Experimental model	Biomaterial	PEMF	Field intensity (mT unless otherwise specified)	PEMF waveform	Exposure	PEMF Generator	Reference
Defects in proximal tibia of rabbits	Porous hydroxyapatite (HA) or tricalcium phosphate (TCP) nails	1.5 Hz, 26 ms-long PEMF bursts of 3.8 kHz pulses	0.18	Quasi square	8 hours/day for up to 6 weeks	American Medical Electronics (Dallas, TX, U.S.A.)	(Shimizu et al., 1988)
Defects in rabbit tibia	Natural or synthetic hydroxyapatite granules	50 Hz	8	Triangular	30 min/12 hours for up to 4 weeks	In-house built generator	(Ottani et al., 2002)
Defects in rabbit femur (condyles)	Synthetic HA rods obtained by granule sintering	1.3 ms-long, 75 Hz	1.6	Trapezoidal	6 hours/day for 3 weeks	BIOSTIM, Igea, Carpi, Italy	(Milena Fini et al., 2002)
Defects in rabbit femurs (cortical bone, mid-diaphysis)	Synthetic HA rods obtained by granule sintering	1.3 ms-long, 75 Hz	1.6	Trapezoidal	6 hours/day for 3 weeks	BIOSTIM, Igea, Carpi, Italy	(M. Fini, Giavaresi, Giardino, Cavani, & Cadossi, 2006)
Commercially available human mesenchymal stem cells	Commercially available calcium phosphate discs	4.5 ms-long, 15 Hz bursts of 4.4 kHz, 225 s-long pulses	1.6	Quasi-square (with trapezoidal pulses)	8 hours/day	Electro-Biology Inc., Parsippany, NJ	(Z. Schwartz et al., 2008)
Commercially available mesenchymal stem cells, normal human osteoblasts, MG-63 or Saos-2	Commercially available calcium phosphate discs	4.5 ms-long, 15 Hz bursts of 4.4 kHz, 225 s-long pulses	1.6	Quasi-square (with trapezoidal pulses)	8 hours/day	Electro-Biology Inc., Parsippany, NJ	(Zvi Schwartz, Fisher, Lohmann, Simon, & Boyan, 2009)
Human osteosarcoma Saos-2 cells	Commercially available discs of porous bovine natural apatite	1.3 ms pulses at 75 Hz	2	Trapezoidal	24 hours/day for 22 days	BIOSTIM, Igea, Carpi, Italy	(Lorenzo Fassina et al., 2010)