THE EFFECT OF DAILY ELECTRICAL STIMULATION OF NORMAL AND DENERVATED MUSCLES UPON THEIR PROTEIN CONTENT AND UPON SOME OF THE PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF THE PROTEIN

Abstract

Daily electrical stimulation of denervated gastrocnemii of rabbits is effective in retarding wt. loss and deterioration of muscle protein. Treatment applied to a leg in flexed position, so that the muscle contracts against high resistance during stimulation, is much more effective than treatment in an extended limb position, in which the muscle contracts freely against no or little resistance. With the same type of electrical stimulation, a training effect upon the normal muscle was produced only if the stimulation was applied in the extended position. However, even under this condition, the training effect was restricted to an increase in muscle wt., and no change in the protein composition became apparent.