The effects of passive movement and electrical stimulation on soleus of the rats treated with tail suspension / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the effects of passive movement (PM) and electric stimulation(ES) on soleus of the tail suspended rats. Methods Seventy-two male Wistar rats(68～76g) were used in this experiment and divided into a normal control group, a model group (tail suspension), a ES group (tail suspension plus ES) and a PM group(tail suspension plus PM).The cross-sectional area of the muscle fibers and proportion of various types of muscle fibers in soleus were observed by histociemical staining of succinic dehydrogenase (SDH) and image pattern analyzer. Results The results showed that the cross-sectional area of all types of soleus muscle fibers in the PM and ES groups was significantly larger than that in the model group, with the area of the intermediate muscle fibers more significantly larger in particular. The proportion of the red fibers decreased and that of the intermediate fibers increased in the model group after one week of tail-suspension. Conclusion Passive movement and electrical stimulation could slow down the muscle atrophy of soleus of the tail-suspended rats.