Electromagnetic Field Stimulation Attenuates Phasic Nociception after Complete Spinal Cord Injury in Rats

Abstract

Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most incapacitating pathologies, leading to huge rehabilitation challenges besides a social-economic burden on SCI patients and their families. There is no complete curative treatment available so far. Non-invasive and patient-friendly use of extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field stimulation (EMF) has emerged as a therapeutic and rehabilitation option. In this study, we tested whole-body EMF stimulation on thoracic complete SCI-induced nociception including sensorimotor deficits in rats. The EMF application significantly attenuated hyperalgesia and allodynia to thermal, electrical, and chemical stimuli from 6 weeks onwards as well as restoration of spinal reflexes, viz., H-reflex and nociceptive flexion reflex at the study endpoint (week 8). Besides, massively increased glutamate at the SCI injury site was observed in SCI rats with no treatment, which was also attenuated significantly by EMF stimulation. Spinal cord histology of the injury area showed a decrease in lesion volume and glial population in the EMF-stimulated rats. These findings indicate the beneficial role of EMF stimulation after thoracic complete SCI in adult male rats and, thereby, a beneficial patient-friendly rehabilitation tool.

Cortical intermittent theta burst stimulation on gait pathomechanics and urinary tract dysfunction in incomplete spinal cord injury patients: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…Preclinical studies in complete and incomplete rat models of spinal cord injury have shown significant beneficial effects of external magnetic field exposure for 5–8 weeks on autonomic (urinary bladder) function, locomotion, sensorimotor and pain perception. The functional recovery observed is suggested to be due to attenuation of glial scaring, lesion volume, neurotransmitter imbalance and facilitation of neuronal survival and axonal regeneration (Pal et al 2013, 2018; Dey et al 2017; Bhattacharyya et al 2020; Kumar et al 2021) [ [44] , [45] , [46] , [47] , [48] ]. Application of iTBS for 2 weeks has also shown to facilitate cortical excitability and promote axonal regeneration in SCI rat model (Marufa et al 2021) [ 49 ].…”