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Electromagnetic field stimulation facilitates motor neuron excitability, myogenesis and muscle contractility in spinal cord transected rats

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Abstract

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most devastating injuries which causes either complete or partial loss of movement, balance, muscular coordination and endurance. Electromagnetic field (EMF) stimulation has been shown to reduce muscle atrophy and fiber-type switching and improves muscle function in a hindlimb suspension model. The present study aims to elucidate the therapeutic potential of EMF stimulation on motor neuron excitability, soleus muscle morphology and function in complete SCI rats. Thirty-six adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into Sham, SCI and SCI+EMF groups. Complete transection was done at the T13 spinal level, followed by whole-body EMF exposure for 7 or 14 days. Hyper-reflexia, muscle atrophy, reduction in twitch and tetanic force with earlier onset of fatigue was evident in the SCI group. EMF stimulation showed significant improvement in H and M wave parameters, H/M ratio, muscle twitch and tetanic force, fusion frequency and fatigability. A significant increase in regenerating myofibers and reduction in muscle degeneration following EMF was evident on histopathological examination. Further, EMF significantly increased myogenic protein levels responsible for muscle regeneration. Our study demonstrates for the first time the potential of EMF to modulate motor neuron excitability and muscle contractile function in SCI rats through activity-dependent mechanisms.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the help rendered by Purushottam Samal, Department of Physiology, AIIMS, New Delhi, and Anil Singh Bisht and Lal Bahadur Chaudhary, Department of Pathology, AIIMS, New Delhi, for their support in histological analysis.

Funding

This work was supported by the Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India, as a Senior Research Fellowship grant (Ref No: 45/10/ 2019-Nan/BMS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiotherapy, Swami Vivekananda University, Barrackpore, 700121, India

    Arpita Chakraborty

  2. Department of Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, 110029, India

    Mehar Chand Sharma

  3. Department of Biostatistics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, 110029, India

    Sreenivas Vishnubhatla

  4. Department of Physiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, 110029, India

    Arpita Chakraborty & Suman Jain

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  1. Arpita Chakraborty
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  4. Suman Jain
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Contributions

SJ conceived the project and obtained funding support; AC performed all the experimental work and wrote the initial draft of the manuscript; MCS performed muscle histology and analysis; and SV performed the statistical analysis. All the authors contributed to the conception and formalization of the study design, analysis and interpretation of data. AC and SJ were involved in acquiring data and drafting the work, revising it critically and approving the final version. MCS and SV contributed to the accuracy or integrity of the work and ensured that all the data are appropriately analyzed and interpreted.

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Correspondence to Suman Jain.

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Author disclosure statement

AC, MCS, SV and SJ do not have any competing personal financial, funding, employment or other competing interests.

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study was approved by Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (Ethical number: 936/IAEC/ 2016) and was performed in accordance with the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act, the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA) and EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments.

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Corresponding editor: Shamik Sen

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Chakraborty, A., Sharma, M.C., Vishnubhatla, S. et al. Electromagnetic field stimulation facilitates motor neuron excitability, myogenesis and muscle contractility in spinal cord transected rats. J Biosci 47, 78 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-022-00318-y

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