Whole body vibration (WBV) following spinal cord injury (SCI) in rats: Timing of intervention

Abstract

WBV started 14 days after SCI provides the most benefit (RHI, bladder); starting at 1day after SCI provides no benefit and starting at 28 days may be detrimental. Increasing the intensity of WBV to twice daily did not provide additional benefit.

Beneficial effects of whole-body vibration exercise for brain disorders in experimental studies with animal models: a systematic review

“…Two studies [78,79] showed motor performance improvement and attention. In addition, WBV enhanced muscle strength, isometric force production in semitendinosus skeletal muscle and decreased the fatiguing effects of intensive synaptic muscle stimulation [38,80]. Furthermore, WBV improved motor coordination from 14-to 28-days post-ischemia and muscle strength of the upper limbs at 21-and 28-days post-ischemia [61], which corroborates the notion that WBV is known to improve neuromuscular performance [40].…”

“…In contrast, some studies [89,91,92] designed for evaluate injury effects of WBV, decided in only 1 bout by a long-time exposure (varying from 90 min to 240 min). Furthermore, some studies modeling SCI applied two frequencies and one amplitude, which are within the normal range of motoneuron discharges and are well tolerated by the rats [38,[73][74][75]. Different devices to generate mechanical vibration were used, such as an alternating model [38,62,[72][73][74], a vertical model [62,69,93] and those which used a custom type of platform adapted to generate vibration stimuli in animals models [59,68,[77][78][79][86][87][88], which indicates a heterogeneity as for the vibration stimuli model on the selected studies, and can increase its translational value for different clinical approaches.…”

“…Also, after ischemia the number of bromodeoxyuridine-positive (BrdU+) cells at 3-to 14-days was increased [58]. Furthermore, in spinal cord injury models [38,59,[72][73][74]90], WBV generated increased activation of microglia, macrophages, and astrocytes in the superficial dorsal horn of the lumbar spinal cord. Levels of extracellular signal-regulated kinase phosphorylation increased in neurons and astrocytes of the dorsal horn at WBV 8 Hz, and it caused denser capillary network and vascularization.…”

“…In fact, physical exercise can represent a potential treatment option in individuals with neurological issues [36]. The importance of exercise training in driving neural circuitry, improving brain function, hippocampal plasticity and memory, and reducing secondary complications is well documented, but factors influencing training outcomes are diverse [37,38]. However, in many cases, individuals with moderate to severe brain disorders are often unable to adhere to the physical activity regimen due to the complications triggered by the disease [39].…”

Dose–Response Effect of Vibratory Stimulus on Synaptic and Muscle Plasticity in a Middle-Aged Murine Model

“…Based on these considerations, in our previous work we evaluated the effects of three WBV training protocols, differing in vibration frequency and vibration exposure time, on synaptic plasticity in an experimental mouse model, by means of in vitro extracellular recordings in hippocampal slices from 4to 24-month-old mice (Cariati et al, 2021). It was previously suggested that synaptic plasticity is positively affected by WBV training, both in rodents (Manthou et al, 2017) and in humans (Fuermaier et al, 2014;Regterschot et al, 2014), probably through the involvement of sensory stimulation leading to cognitive enhancement. In agreement with these studies, our results showed that WBV training can modulate synaptic plasticity differently, depending on the protocol used, and that the best effects are related to the training protocol characterized by a low vibration frequency and a longer recovery time.…”