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18888

Title

The delayed effect of spinal cord injury on the neuromuscular junction [poster presentation; the Association of Chiropractic Colleges' Thirteenth Annual Conference, 2006]

URL

Journal

J Chiropr Educ. 2006 Spring;20(1):79-80

Author(s)

Lenihan D

Subject(s)

Association of Chiropractic Colleges / congresses

Peer Review

Yes

Publication Type

Meeting Abstract

Abstract/Notes

Introduction: Spinal cord injury costs the American economy billions of dollars every year owing to the fact that most of the individuals injured are under the age of 32. It has long been thought that regeneration of the central nervous system is impossible. This belief is changing with new techniques in stem cell research and neurotrophic factors. To assess the changes in central nervous system repair, assessment techniques must be developed in concert with these new repair methods. One new method of rehabilitation is the use of functional electrical stimulation to the peripheral nervous system. One assessment technique is “jitter”, which measures the stability of the end plate potential. The purpose of this study was to assess the stability of the neuromuscular junction in spinal cord injury with the functional electrical stimulation used as a rehabilitation technique.

Methods: 50 adult male Fischer rats had a spinal cord contusion injury performed at T9. Basso–Beattie–Bresnahan scores were assessed and those animals with a score of 12 or less were used to assess the effect of functional electrical stimulation. These remaining animals had a functional electrical stimulation device implanted and connected to the peroneal nerve. The functional electrical stimulation device was turned on for one hour, three times a day, for 45 days. A second group had the functional electrical stimulation device implanted but not turned on. After 45 days the jitter value was measured for the extensor digitorum longus.

Result: The normal jitter value for the extensor digitorum longus is 9.8 µs. The functional electrical stimulation group had a jitter value of 15.1 and the sham group (functional electrical stimulation not turned on) had a jitter value of 19.2. There was a statistically significant difference between the spinal cord injury groups and the normal values. The functional electrical stimulation had a more stable end plate potiental when compared with the sham group.

Discussion: This study showed that the end plate threshold after spinal cord injury was less stable normal, a finding that has been shown in peripheral nerve injury and demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system. Of particular interest was the fact that when the peripheral nervous system was stimulated after spinal cord injury the stability of the end plate was statistically improved when compared with animals that did not have stimulation. These results suggest that jitter is a usefully physiological measure to assess the peripheral nervous system after severe spinal cord injury. This study further supports the idea that functional electrical stimulation helps stabilizes the neuromuscular junction after an upper motor lesion and that functional electrical stimulation may be helpful in the rehabilitation of the patient after such injury.

This abstract is reproduced with the permission of the publisher.

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