Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Here we investigate the effect of millicurrent treatment on human chondrocytes cultivated in a collagen gel matrix and on human osteochondral explants.
Human chondrocytes from osteoarthritic knee joints were enzymatically released and transferred into a collagen type-I gel. Osteochondral explants and cell-seeded gel samples were cultivated in-vitro for three weeks. Samples of the verum groups were stimulated every two days by millicurrent treatment 3 mA, sinusoidal signal of Hz amplitude modulated by two super-imposed signals of 0.
With regard to the immunostainings 3 D gel samples and osteochondral explants did not show any differences between treatment and control group.
The expression of all investigated genes of the 3 D gel samples was elevated following millicurrent treatment. In general, the standard deviations of the gene expression data were high, resulting in rarely significant results. We conclude that millicurrent stimulation of human osteoarthritic chondrocytes cultivated in a 3 D collagen gel and of osteochondral explants directly influences cell metabolism.
Electrical stimulation for pain relief is a well established method in physical therapy centres. Mostly, it is combined with other treatments like massage, heat or physical manipulation. There are many commercial electrical stimulation devices available, which are commonly referred as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation units. These devices emit electrical pulses with alternating positive and negative polarities in the kHz range and currents in the milliampere range. While units using higher currents are more effective in blocking acute pain, pain relief of units which deliver currents in the microampere range and frequencies from 0.
