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Updated: Jun 8, 2026

Application of Chronic Stimulation to Study Contractile Activity-induced Rat Skeletal Muscle Phenotypic Adaptations
Published on: January 25, 2018
Electrical stimulation prevents apoptosis in denervated skeletal muscle
Takuya Arakawa1, Akihiro Katada, Hiroshi Shigyo
1Department of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, Asahikawa Medical College, Midorigaoka Higashi, Asahikawa, Japan.
Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that electrical stimulation regulates the levels of gene expression related to apoptosis in denervated muscle and prevents muscle atrophy after denervation.Nineteen rats were used in this study. To denervate soleus muscle, sciatic nerve was resected under aseptic condition. Electrical stimulation with 4 mA rectangular pulses of 0.5 ms duration at 2 Hz lasting for 1 hour was delivered to lower limb including the soleus muscle using two surface electrodes. After the stimulation periods of 4 weeks, the levels of gene expression related to apoptosis were evaluated. Electrical stimulation increased valosin-containing protein (VCP) expression and decreased cleaved caspase-12 expression in denervated muscles. These results indicated that electrical stimulation to denervated muscle suppresses ER-specific apoptosis by enhancing VCP expression. We proposed that electrical stimulation would be a potential treatment for preventing atrophy of denervated skeletal muscles.
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