TENS augments blood flow in somatotopically linked spinal cord segments and mitigates compressive ischemia.

Abstract

This was an acute basic physiological study in anesthetized adult male rats. The purpose of this study was to determine, in an animal model, whether innocuous somatic stimulation, in the form of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), could produce a sustained augmentation of spinal cord blood flow, and whether this effect was robust in the face of relatively mild, non-destructive compression of the spinal cord. Neurophysiology laboratory, Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, Toronto, Canada. In anesthetized adult male Wistar rats, spinal cord blood flow was measured with laser Doppler flowmetry during 5- and 15-min epochs of TENS stimulation in uncompressed and compressed lumbar spinal cord. TENS applied to the L4/L5 dermatomes was associated with augmentation of blood flow in somatotopically linked spinal cord segments. This augmentation was robust in the face of non-destructive compression of the spinal cord, was sustained for periods of stimulation up to 15 min and occurred in the absence of any change in the mean arterial blood pressure. TENS augments spinal cord blood flow in the uncompressed spinal cord and during acute, non-destructive spinal cord compression. It remains to be seen whether similar results can be achieved in chronically compressed spinal cord and spinal nerve roots, and whether these results have clinical implications in human syndromes of spinal cord compression.