Effect of Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Stimulation on the Growth Plate of the Tibia Bone of Rats: An In Vivo Study
, Jae-Woo Shin 2, Won-Kyung Yang 3, Min-Jin Kim 3, Ja-Ik Koo 4, Eun-Mi Noh 4, Kyoung-Soo Min 4, Mi-Young Yun 5 and Seung-Hyung Kim 3,*
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear authors I read the article with pleasure and interest;your work is interesting and enjoyable, the methods and results
are well described, and the conclusions are well supported by your data.
Author Response
Response: Thank you so much about your kindly review.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Line 54: “growth plate” is written twice together. Please, try to rewrite this sentence.
Line 74: EMFs abbreviation is used without previous definition.
Is the study performed in rats or in mice? In some paragraphs you talk about mice (line 107, 130, 132…) and in others about rats (tittle, line 99, 136…), please review it.
Author Response
Line 54: “growth plate” is written twice together. Please, try to rewrite this sentence.
Response: I revised the sentence. Please see the revised manuscript (line 54).
Line 74: EMFs abbreviation is used without previous definition.
Response: I added the definition of EMFs abbreviation (line 74).
Is the study performed in rats or in mice? In some paragraphs you talk about mice (line 107, 130, 132…) and in others about rats (tittle, line 99, 136…), please review it
Response: I used rats for our study. I revised it. Please see the revised manuscript (line 109, 129, 132, 134).
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
The revised work has a suitable title that explains the subject matter.
The authors can, however, provide additional information in the title, such as 'an in vivo study', as many studies in the literature are carried out on cell cultures. This would increase the scientific relevance of the paper. As a further suggestion, it would be better not to use terms that already appear in the title as keywords.
The organisation of the paragraphs is correct and well described: in particular, the materials and methods section is smooth and not difficult to follow.
The results are well described, it would be appropriate to indicate all the results obtained including those relating to the cortisol level (line 294).
Nevertheless, the aim of the study was to demonstrate the effect of PEMFs on the tibial growth plate in rats with a view to a possible application in the medical field that would allow bone lengthening. So the last sentence of the abstract (line 28-29) could sound a bit inappropriate since it states that the technique increases bone growth in humans; this cannot be stated from a study on rats but only assumed by referring this statement to the use of the technique on humans.
Author Response
The revised work has a suitable title that explains the subject matter.
The authors can, however, provide additional information in the title, such as 'an in vivo study', as many studies in the literature are carried out on cell cultures. This would increase the scientific relevance of the paper. As a further suggestion, it would be better not to use terms that already appear in the title as keywords.
Response: According to the reviewer’s comment, I added additional information in the title. I revised the title and keywords.
The organisation of the paragraphs is correct and well described: in particular, the materials and methods section is smooth and not difficult to follow. The results are well described, it would be appropriate to indicate all the results obtained including those relating to the cortisol level (line 294).
Response: According to the reviewer’s comment, I added the cortisol levels in the result (Figure 7b). Please see the revised manuscript (line 220-226).
Nevertheless, the aim of the study was to demonstrate the effect of PEMFs on the tibial growth plate in rats with a view to a possible application in the medical field that would allow bone lengthening. So the last sentence of the abstract (line 28-29) could sound a bit inappropriate since it states that the technique increases bone growth in humans; this cannot be stated from a study on rats but only assumed by referring this statement to the use of the technique on humans.
Response: Your comment is right. Because this study is based on animal experiments, large-scale clinical studies will be required in the future to be applied to the human body. Thus, I revised the last sentence of the abstract to ‘These results suggest that PEMF can safely stimulate growth of the growth plate in a non-invasive manner to promote bone growth.’
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
