Bassett, Pawluk and Becker1 reported that they had observed
marked bone production in the femora of dogs 3 weeks after insertion
into the bone of implants which produced a few µA of direct
current through platinum-iridium electrodes. This work was repeated by
O'Connor and colleagues2, who were able to report ``general
confirmation'' of Bassett's results, and who found difficulty in
assessing the
... [Show full abstract] degree of bone growth. We have tried to reproduce the
results reported by Bassett1 in rabbits, and to develop a
precise method of assessing the degree of bone growth.