1985 Volume 22 Issue 1 Pages 25-29
During the past few years electrical stimulation has become a substitute for the ordinary muscle strengthenning exercise program, but as yet research information about the effect of electrical stimulation on the healthy skeletal muscle is still largely lacking.
Hence, this study was undertaken to obtain a more definite information regarding the adaptive effects of electrical stimulation on the healthy skeletal muscle.
Right sciatic nerve of male Wistar albino rats was electrically stimulated daily 30 minutes at the frequency of 5Hz for two weeks and they were allowed to survive until the second week, when appropriate leg muscles of both sides were removed for the wet muscle weight measurements, succinic dehydrogenase (SDH) staining and microangiogram.
The mean relative wet weight of sitmulated tibialis anterior, extensor digitorum longus and extensor hallucis longus muscle was 105.8, 110.2 and 137.1 per cent comparing with that of the non-stimulated muscles. Electrically stimulated muscle fibers became thickly stained for SDH which made the difference of individual muscle fiber type indistinct.
Microangiography done with India black ink showed the dilatation of vessels as well as the increase in number of capillaries in electrically stimulated muscles.
In view of these results, electrical stimulation can be utilized as a therapeutic procedure to encourage muscle strengthening exercise.
