Electrical resistivity of cortical bone: Micromechanical modeling and experimental verification

Electrical resistivity of bone tissue is largely determined by its microstructure. The latter comprises a large number of pores filled with electrically conductive material – blood, lymph, nerve tissue, etc. The present paper analyzes a connection between morphology of the osteonal cortical bone and its overall anisotropic electrical resistivity. Bone’s microstructure is modeled using available micrographs. The calculated anisotropic electric resistivity is in agreement with available experimental data and with our measurements. The influence of each of the pore types on the overall electric properties is examined.