Morphometric analysis of rabbit skeletal muscle and peripheral nerve tissue after electrical stimulation

Transcutaneous medium frequency electrical stimulation is used extensively to improve muscle strength in people who encounter difficulty in improving strength voluntarily. The purpose of this study was to describe some morphometric effects of electrical stimulation applied to rabbit skeletal muscle and peripheral nerve tissue (N = 5 control and 7 experimental rabbits). Intermittent electrical current (4000 Hz pulse modulated at 50 Hz) was applied transcutaneously to adult female rabbit thigh muscle 3 times/week for 3 months. Muscle ATPase histochemical staining, followed by morphometric analysis, demonstrated that type IIB fibers in stimulated muscles (sartorius and vastus lateralis) had larger cross-sectional areas in comparison to nonstimulated muscle fibers. Type IIA fibers of the stimulated sartorius muscle also were hypertrophied in comparison to nonstimulated muscle fibers. The percentage distribution of muscle fiber types did not change significantly as a result of stimulation. The femoral nerves of these rabbits were fixed and stained. Morphometric analysis did not detect any significant change in myelin cross-sectional area or thickness. Also, nerve axoplasmic cross-sectional area in stimulated femoral nerves was not significantly different from controls. These data suggest that electrical stimulation can increase the size of skeletal muscle fibers if applied consistently for an extended period of time. Further research is needed to further characterize this effect and to determine whether the same effect can be observed in humans after prolonged stimulation. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 1990;11(7):313-320.