| The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of functional electric stimulation cycle ergometry (FES-CE), applied to acute spinal cord injured (SCI) patients, on the changes in CSAf, myosin heavy chain composition (MHC) caused by SCI. Adaptation in power output was assessed to determine muscle function following SCI.;Motor complete SCI patients were recruited from The Ohio State University inpatient SCI center. Six cervical and four thoracic spinal cord injured individuals participated in the study. Each group contained five subjects (M: 4, F: 1). Subjects were assigned to either a spinal cord injured control group (IC) or FES-CE group (IE) and matched for age, activity, and gender. Subjects age was 26 ± 3, 30.4 ± 14, and 22.2 ± 5 for the UIC, IC, and IE, respectively. The IE group trained 3d/wk, 30 minutes/day for 13 weeks. Muscle biopsies were taken from the vastus lateralis muscle at pre- and post-treatment, and for UIC subjects biopsies were taken 13 weeks apart. Muscle samples were cut and stained with hemotoxilin and eosin, for the determination of CSA f and nuclear density were determined. Myosin heavy chain composition was also analyzed using SDS-PAGE.;Power output measured in watts (W) increased with FES-CE training and reached a maximum power output of 24.5 watts. Muscle CSAf decreased 38% and 65% at six and 19 weeks post-SCI, respectively. Initially, the IE group had a similar decrease in CSAf six weeks following SCI, however, CSAf increased 63% following 13 weeks of FES-CE training. There was no effect of SCI or FES-CE training on myonuclear density or MHC composition.;Changes in CSAf and power output increased at a greater rate with acute SCI than seen previously with chronic SCI patients. The present study suggests that early intervention using FES-CE training can attenuate the decrease in CSAf and function seen in SCI patients. Our results strongly support early intervention with FES-CE following SCI to maintain muscle mass and function following SCI. |
