Blood flow variation in human muscle during electrically stimulated exercise bouts

Objectives: To evaluate, with a high spatial resolution, the blood flow variations in human skeletal muscle during neuromuscular electric stimulation (NMES) and hence to gain better understanding of the mechanisms of muscle spatial recruitment during NMES.

Design: One thigh was submitted to 3 stimulation bouts of different durations (S1=4min, S2=8min, S3=12min) with a workload corresponding to 10% of quadriceps maximal isometric voluntary torque.

Setting: A cyclotron research center at a Belgian university.

Participants: Ten healthy male volunteers.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main outcome measures: Participants were studied with positron emission tomography and H(2)(15)O. Tissue blood flow was evaluated during the last 4 minutes of each stimulation bout in multiple regions of interest (ROIs) selected in the transverse section of the stimulated thigh.

Results: Mean tissue blood flow was significantly lower during S1 (5.9+/-1.3mL. min(-1). 100g(-1)) than during S2 (10.6+/-3.4mL. min(-1). 100g(-1)) and S3 (11.6+/-3.7mL. min(-1). 100g(-1)) (P<.05). For each ROI, an arbitrary tissue blood flow activation level of 5mLmin(-1)100g(-1) was fixed. The mean percentage of activated ROIs reached 42.4%, 62.7%, and 63.6% during S1, S2, and S3, respectively. Between S1 and S3, the newly recruited ROIs were preferentially located far from the electrode.

Conclusion: During NMES, new muscular regions situated far from the stimulation site are recruited. These recruitment mechanisms are particular and contrast with the recruitment of motor units seen during voluntary contraction.