Effects of percutaneous midband pulse current stimulation in hepatic region on free radical and nissl bodies in cerebral cortex of rats with exercise-induced fatigue / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effects of percutaneous midband pulse current stimulation in hepatic region on anti-exercise fatigue ability and the free radicals and nissl bodies in cerebral cortex tissue of rats with exercise-induced fatigue. Methods Seventy-two 8-week old male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups (18 each) control group (CG), fatigue group (FG), stimulation before fatigue group (SBF) and stimulation after fatigue group (SAF). Animals in FG, SBF and SAF group were used to reproduce the swimming-exhaustion models. Midband current stimulation (1024Hz, 10mA, current cycle 1sec) for 20 minutes was given to the rats of group SBF before swimming, and to those in group SAF after exhaustion. At the weekend of the 1st, 3rd and 5th week after modeling, the exhaustive swimming time of rats in all but CG group was observed. Cerebral cortex tissue was harvested for the estimation of the level of lipid peroxidation, including SOD, MDA, GSH-Px and SOD/MDA, and the histopathological changes in nissl bodies in neurons were observed. Results At the 1st weekend after modeling, no significant difference was found in all the indexes among the 4 groups, while at the 3rd weekend, the exhaustive time was obviously longer in SAF group than in FG group, and also in SAF group than in FG and SBF group at the 5th weekend (P<0.05). At the 5th weekend, the SOD and GSH-Px levels and SOD/MDA contents were obviously lower in FG and SBF group than in CG and SAF group, and the MDA content was obviously higher in FG and SBF group than in CG and SAF group (P<0.05). As regarding the nissl bodies in neurons, it is observed that the ratio of number/area was obviously higher in SAF group than in FG and SBF group at the 5th weekend (P<0.01). Conclusion Percutaneous stimulation of hepatic region with midband pulse current can effectively reduce the lipid peroxidation damage of cerebral cortex tissue and decrease the dissolution and loss of nissl bodies in fatigued rats, prolong the exhausting exercise time, and postpone the development of fatigue.