THE EFFECT OF ELECTRICAL STIMULATION ON NEUROMUSCULAR REGENERATION

Abstract

A study was made of the effects of daily faradic stimulation upon neuromuscular regeneration in the adult albino rat. The expts. were carried out upon the gastrocnemius muscles at various times after crushing the tibial nerves and included measurements of muscle mass and the strength and capacity of the regenerating nerve to activate its muscle. Daily treatments with electrical stimuli greatly retarded the loss of weight and strength in muscles prior to their reinnervation. The . treatments employed appeared to have no effect upon the time of onset of functional reinnervation and upon normal innervated muscle. The electrical stimulation and the stretching and fatigue resulting therefrom appeared to be without injurious effects upon any phase of neuromuscular regeneration. However, when the treatments were continued for some time after reinnervation the differences between the treated nerves and muscles and their untreated contralateral controls were found to be gradually equalized. Thus an evaluation of the effects of electrical treatment will be prejudiced by the time after denervation at which critical measurements are made.