Abstract des Autors

Introduction: Adaptative changes following muscular electrostimulation were investigated in the horse. Method: A 3-week period of electrical stimulation with 13 sessions of 25 minutes have been realized for ten horses. The sessions are composed of the alternation of 4 second-tetanic contractions with a 70 Hz frequency current and 12 second rest periods with a 5 Hz frequency current. On all the animals, the shoulder's and thigh's muscles have been symmetrically stimulated. Results: No significant difference has been shown after electrostimulation in the thickness of shoulder's muscles. Blood lactate concentrations' analyses before and after a same exercise-test have shown a significant decrease after electrical stimulation (P<0,001). Blood aspartate aminotransferase's concentrations have significantly increased at rest (P<0,05) and half an hour after the exercise (P<0,01) whereas the rise in blood creatine phosphokinase's concentrations is not significative. Conclusions: All of these results in the horse suggest, like in other species, a better strain resistance of muscular fibers after electrical stimulation. A longer study and/or a protocol with more sessions would be necessary to precise the electrostimulation's effects on the muscular development in the horse. Verf.-Referat