Lin Bor-Shing, Khasanah Nurida, Cai Chun-Ying, Wu Chun-Wei, Lu Kuo-Hsiang, Lin Wei-Tso, Peng Chih-Wei
Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Taipei University, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
Graduate Institute of Biomedical Materials and Tissue Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine Public Health and Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada-Dr Sardjito General Hospital, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Neuromodulation. 2025 Jul;28(5):796-802. doi: 10.1016/j.neurom.2024.09.476. Epub 2024 Nov 4.
Ultrahigh frequencies (UHF) have been shown to selectively suppress the sensory pathway with a rapid onset and prolonged effect compared with low frequencies. Few studies have explored the feasibility of UHF electrical stimulation in treating overactive bladder. This study aimed to investigate whether bladder overactivity could be inhibited by UHF stimulation at the L6 nerve root.
Female Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 12) were divided into two groups: sham and UHF groups. Bladder overactivity was induced by continuous intravesical infusion of 0.5% acetic acid (AA). UHF L6 nerve root stimulation (500 kHz, 20 mA for 5 minutes) was applied to the rats in the UHF group. To investigate the effects of the treatment, intravesical pressure was recorded by cystometrography during continuous transvesical infusion, with volume threshold (VT) and intercontraction interval (ICI) used to conduct the investigation.
Bladder overactivity was successfully developed in all rats with a significant decrease of median VT and ICI to 83.7% and 86.4%, respectively. UHF stimulation of the L6 nerve root was able to counteract the AA effect by significantly increasing median VT and ICI to 220% and 36.1%, respectively; these effects persisted for ≥two hours. There was a significant difference in the effects of UHF electrical stimulation between the sham and UHF groups (p < 0.05).
This preliminary study provides evidence for UHF stimulation of the L6 spinal nerve root, analogous to the sacral nerve root in humans, as a potential alternative neuromodulation technique to suppress bladder overactivity.
与低频相比，超高频（UHF）已被证明能选择性地抑制感觉通路，起效迅速且效果持久。很少有研究探讨UHF电刺激治疗膀胱过度活动症的可行性。本研究旨在调查L6神经根处的UHF刺激是否能抑制膀胱过度活动。
将12只雌性Sprague-Dawley大鼠分为两组：假手术组和UHF组。通过持续膀胱内灌注0.5%乙酸（AA）诱导膀胱过度活动。对UHF组大鼠进行L6神经根UHF刺激（500kHz，20mA，持续5分钟）。为研究治疗效果，在持续经膀胱灌注期间通过膀胱压力描记法记录膀胱内压，用容量阈值（VT）和收缩间期（ICI）进行研究。
所有大鼠均成功诱导出膀胱过度活动，中位VT和ICI显著降低，分别降至83.7%和86.4%。L6神经根的UHF刺激能够抵消AA的作用，使中位VT和ICI分别显著增加至220%和36.1%；这些效果持续≥两小时。假手术组和UHF组之间UHF电刺激的效果存在显著差异（p<0.05）。
这项初步研究为L6脊神经根（类似于人类的骶神经根）的UHF刺激作为一种抑制膀胱过度活动的潜在替代神经调节技术提供了证据。
