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Histochemical changes in muscle of individuals with spinal cord injury following functional electrical stimulated
P D Chilibeck1, J Jeon, C Weiss
1The Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Study Design:
Longitudinal training.
Objectives:
To determine the effects of functional electrical stimulated (FES) leg cycle ergometer training on muscle histochemical characteristics in individuals with motor-complete spinal cord injury (SCI).
Setting:
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Methods:
Six individuals with motor-complete SCI (age 31-50 years; 3-25 years post-injury) trained using FES leg cycle ergometry for 30 min, 3 days per week for 8 weeks. Biopsies of the vastus lateralis muscle were obtained pre- and post-training and analyzed for fibre composition, fibre size and capillarization.
Results:
The majority of muscle fibres were classified as type 2 pre- and post-training. Average fibre area increased 23% (P<0.05) and capillary number increased 39% (P<0.05) with training. As a result of these proportional increases, capillarization expressed relative to fibre area was unchanged with training.
Conclusions:
FES leg cycle ergometer training results in proportional increases in fibre area and capillary number in individuals with SCI.