The effect of Micro-current electrical stimulation on muscle atrophy caused by sciatic nerve compression

摘要

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of micro-current stimulation on muscle atrophy caused by sciatic nerve compression. To investigate the effects of micro-current stimulation on muscle atrophy, thirty 5-week-old Sprague Dawley rat were used and assigned to three groups including the control group (CON, n=10), the Sciatic Nerve Injury group (SNI, n=10), the Sciatic Nerve Injury and treated with Micro-current Electrical stimulation group ( SNI+MET, n=10). All of the animals in SNI+MET received 50uA of micro-current electrical stimulation for 4 weeks while animals in SNI received no stimulation. In order to measure the changes of the muscle volume and assess biological mechanism of muscle regeneration for 4 weeks, In-vivo Micro-CT and Western Blot data were analyzed. As a result, in the case of Micro-CT analysis, the SNI and SNI+MET groups compared to the CON group showed a significant decrease in the muscle volume after 2 weeks, confirming the atrophy caused by the sciatic nerve compression. However, there was no significant difference between SNI and SNI+MET group after applying 4 weeks of micro-current electrical stimulation. In conclusion, further research needs to consider the micro-current stimulation intensity of 50μ A revealed through the present study, and the biological mechanism of nerve regeneration should be also identified based on the relationship between nerve injury and muscle atrophy.