Physical Therapy Korea (한국전문물리치료학회지)

Korean Research Society of Physical Therapy (한국전문물리치료학회)
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The Effect of Microcurrent Stimulation Intensity on Osteoarthritis in Rat

미세전류자극 강도가 흰쥐의 골관절염 회복에 미치는 영향

  • Jin, Hee-Kyung (Dept. of Physical Therapy, The Graduate School, Seonam University) ;
  • Park, Jang-Sung (Dept. of Physical Therapy, The Graduate School, Seonam University) ;
  • Kim, Jong-Man (Dept. of Physical Therapy, The Graduate School, Seonam University)
  • 진희경 (서남대학교 대학원 물리치료학과) ;
  • 박장성 (서남대학교 대학원 물리치료학과) ;
  • 김종만 (서남대학교 대학원 물리치료학과)
  • Received : 2010.09.07
  • Accepted : 2011.01.03
  • Published : 2011.02.19
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Abstract

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease and is led to physical disability. Yet the development of effective disease-modifying treatments has lagged. In this study, I examined the effect of physical therapeutic intervention through microcurrent stimulation and attempt to find which degree of intensity, either 25 ${\mu}A$ or 500 ${\mu}A$ with a regular 5 pps pulse, is more effective in the osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis was induced with a mixture of 2% carrageenan and 2% kaolin in 26 male Sprague-Dawley rats. The mixture (0.1 $m{\ell}$) was injected into the intra-articular capsule of knee joint once a week for three weeks. Five animals did not show degenerative changes by radiological findings and excluded in the following experiment. Osteoarthritic animals were randomly divided into 3 groups ($n_1$, $n_2$, $n_3$=7/each): untreated, treated with 25 ${\mu}A$, treated with 500 ${\mu}A$. All experimental groups received microcurrent stimulation for four weeks (15 min/day, 5 days/week). The ethological inspection of foot print analysis on the walking corridor was accomplished every week. Histological preparations and immunohistochemical staining with insulin-like growth factor-1 were also done in the articular cartilages. All of these parameters were compared with those of osteoarthritic control group (n=7). The ethological inspection of foot print analysis revealed that changes of walking track (paw width) and stride length was significantly increased in both experimental groups. The better results were observed in experimental group treated with 25 ${\mu}A$ intensity without significance than group treated with 500 ${\mu}A$. Histological preparations disclosed that routine hyaline cartilage of articular surface were altered to fibrous cartilage in untreated group and experimental group treated with 500 ${\mu}A$ intensity. But a little changes were seen in experimental group treated with 25 ${\mu}A$ intensity. Immunolocalization of insulin-like growth factor-1 was simultaneously decreased according to the duration of osteoarthritis, and did not show significant difference among the groups. In this study discovered that the microcurrent stimulation, especially 25 ${\mu}A$ intensity, had a positive effect by the ethological inspection, histological and immunohistochemical stainings. These results suggest that microcurrent stimulation with low-intensity might be effective in the promotion of healing process for the osteoarthritis.

Keywords

References

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