Abstract
Functional electrical stimulation (FES) has been used in Brazil since 1989 to obtain functional improvement in paraplegic patients' orthostasis and locomotion. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the histochemical changes observed in the quadriceps femoris muscle following the use of FES. We studied four patients with traumatic spinal cord lesions at T4-10 level, Frankel A, all within 12-24 months postlesion. They were all submitted to FES using the following criteria: square-wave, 20-30 Hz frequency, pulses of 0.003 seconds, time of stimulation 5 seconds, resting interval 10 seconds. The stimulation was applied during 90 consecutive days, 30 minutes each time, twice daily. The interval between the stimulations was 6 hours. Quadriceps muscle biopsies were performed before and after the use of FES. We used ATPase technique for the histochemical analysis, where three different dying patterns can be observed for the three types of muscular fibres (I, IIa and IIb). The two samples from each patient were analysed measuring the fibres' diameters and their index of atrophy, and counting the total number of each type of fibre in each sample. The mean total number of fibres in each sample was 256 ± 12.3. The results showed that the sizes of the three types of fibres were not modified with the use of FES; the number of type IIa fibres increased in a significant fashion, after using of FES.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Gracanin F (1984) Estimulação elétrica funcional. In: Krusen, editor. Tratado de Medicina Física e Reabilitação. 3rd ed. Manole, São Paulo: 381.
Riley D A, Allin E F (1973) The effects of inactivity, programed stimulation and denervation on the histochemistry of skeletal muscle fibers types. Exp Neurol 40: 391–413.
Niles N R, Chayien J, Cunnigham, Bitensky L (1964) The histochemical demonstration of adenosine triphosphatase activity in myocardium. J Histochem Cytochem 12: 740–743.
Ragnarsson K T (1988) Physiologic effects of functional electrical stimulation-induced-exercises in spinal cord-injured patients. Clin Orthop 233: 53–63.
Peckham P H, Mortimer J T, Marsolais E B (1976) Alteration in the force and fatiguability of skeletal muscle in quadriplegic humans following exercise induced by chronic electrical stimulation. Clin Orthop 114: 326–334.
Wolf S L (1980) Bases funcionais e morfológicas para exercícios terapêuticos. In: Basmajian JV, editor. Terapêutica por Exercícios. 3rd ed. Manole, São Paulo: 57.
Lateur B J, Lehmann J F (1986) Strengthening exercise. In: Leek JC, Gershwin ME, Fowler Jr WM, editors. Principles of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in the Musculoskeletal Diseases, 1st ed. Grune & Stratton, Orlando: 25.
Edstrom L (1970) Selective changes in the size of red and white muscle fibres in upper motor neurone lesions and parkinsonism. 1970 J Neurol Sci 11: 537–541.
Mayer R F, Burke R E, Toop J, Walmsley B, Hodgson J A (1984) The effect of spinal cord transection on motor units in cat medial gastrocnemius muscle. Muscle Nerve 7: 23–30.
Young R R, Mayer R F (1982) Physiological alterations of motor units in hemiplegia. J Neurol Sci 54: 401–410.
Young R, Wiegner A W (1986) Spasticity. Clin Orthop 219: 50–62.
Brindley G S, Polkey C E, Rushton D N (1979) Electrical splinting of the knee in paraplegia. Paraplegia 16: 428–435.
Golnick P D, Armstrong R B, Saubert C W (1972) Enzyme activity and fiber composition in skeletal muscle of untrained and trained men. J Appl Physiol 33: 312–319.
Golnick P D, Armstrong R B, Saltin B (1973) Effect of training on enzyme activity and fiber composition of human skeletal muscle. J Appl Physiol 34: 107–111.
Munsat T L, Mcneal D N, Waters R (1976) Effects of nerve stimulation on human muscle. Arch Neurol 33: 306–14.
Petrofsky J S, Philips C A (1984) The use of functional electrical stimulation for rehabilitation of spinal cord injured patients. CNS Trauma 1: 29–46.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Greve, J., Muszkat, R., Schmidt, B. et al. Functional electrical stimulation (FES): muscle histochemical analysis. Spinal Cord 31, 764–770 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.1993.119
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.1993.119
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Non-invasive, Brain-controlled Functional Electrical Stimulation for Locomotion Rehabilitation in Individuals with Paraplegia
Scientific Reports (2019)
-
Short-term effects of functional electrical stimulation on spinal excitatory and inhibitory reflexes in ankle extensor and flexor muscles
Experimental Brain Research (2006)
-
Myosin heavy chain isoform transformation in single fibres from m. vastus lateralis in spinal cord injured individuals: Effects of long-term functional electrical stimulation (FES)
Pflügers Archiv European Journal of Physiology (1996)