Reduction of muscle fatigue by catchlike-inducing intermittent electrical stimulation in rat skeletal muscle

Abstract

Catchlike property is the force enhancement produced when a brief, high-frequency burst of pulses is added to a constant low-frequency stimulation. In functional electrical stimulation, constant low-frequency stimulation of approximately 20 Hz has primarily been used to reduce muscle fatigue. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of catchlike-inducing intermittent stimulation on muscle fatigue in relation to continuous intermittent low-frequency stimulation. Twenty-two adult male Wistar ST rats were randomly assigned into the constant frequency stimulation (CFS) group or the catchlike-inducing stimulation (CIS) group. In the CFS group, constant low-frequency stimulation of 20 Hz was applied intermittently (4 seconds "ON"/15 seconds "OFF"). In the CIS group, a single electrical burst of 100 Hz was applied at the start of the every 4-second period of stimulation. The muscle fatigue test lasted for 16 min and isometric muscle force, muscle fatigue, and muscular workload were evaluated. CIS significantly increased the maximum muscular force (under fatigued condition) and workload, and significantly decreased muscle fatigue (p < 0.05). The results of this study suggest that catchlike-inducing intermittent electrical stimulation is useful in the clinical administration of functional electrical stimulation.

FES-Induced Torque Prediction With Evoked EMG Sensing for Muscle Fatigue Tracking

“…Some research has addressed the attenuation or delay of FES-induced fatigue. Optimal stimulation patterns, such as Nlets [6] or catch-like stimulation [7], were found to maximize muscle performance and minimize fatigue. Random modulation of FES parameters was proved to have no effect on muscle fatigue [8].…”

Effects of a vitamin D analog, alfacalcidol, on bone and skeletal muscle in glucocorticoid-treated rats

“…General anesthesia was induced by intraperitoneal injection of sodium pentobarbital (30 mg/kg body weight). After opening the posterior surface of the right leg to expose the sciatic nerve in the gluteal region, a bipolar cuff electrode (inter-electrode distance, 5 mm; MD Giken, Tokyo, Japan) was attached to the sciatic nerve (37) (Fig. 1).…”

“…A transducer (Orientec, Tokyo, Japan) was attached and fixed next to the stump with a load of 1 N (37). Signals transmitted from the force transducer during isometric muscular contraction were recorded on a force-time curve using a paper recorder (Nihon Kohden, Tokyo, Japan) (37). To prevent muscle desiccation during the study, the exposed area was covered with mineral oil.…”

“…Muscle weakness is determined by not only decreases in muscle strength, but also muscle fatigue. Contractile tension assessed by electrical stimulation can be used to evaluate skeletal muscle strength and fatigue in animal models (3,13,37,43). Using this method, the present study investigated whether alfacalcidol [1α(OH)D 3 ], an active vitamin D analog, exerts favorable effects on muscle strength and fatigue in glucocorticoid-treated rats.…”

Development of less invasive neuromuscular electrical stimulation model for motor therapy in rodents

“…There were several reports on the study of intermittent electrical stimulation. [34][35][36] Matsunaga et al 35 and Shimada et al 36 showed that high-frequency electrical stimulation elicits less fatigue than low-frequency electrical stimulation during a repetitive stimulation protocol. Dreibati et al 34 reported that only high-frequency (100 Hz) intermittent electrical stimulation within 5 minutes met the criteria of appropriate muscle force training.…”