Exercise has numerous benefits for patients with cancer, but implementation is challenging because of practical and logistical hurdles. This study examined whether neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) can serve as a surrogate for classic exercise by eliciting an exercise training response in skeletal muscle of women diagnosed with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Patients (n = 22) with histologically confirmed stage I, II, or III breast cancer scheduled to receive neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy were randomized to 8 wk of bilateral neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES; 5 days/wk) to their quadriceps muscles or control. Biopsy of the vastus lateralis was performed at baseline and after 8 wk of intervention to assess muscle fiber size, contractility, and mitochondrial content. Seventeen patients (8 control/9 NMES) completed the trial and were included in analyses. NMES promoted muscle fiber hypertrophy (P < 0.001), particularly in fast-twitch, myosin heavy chain (MHC) IIA fibers (P < 0.05) and tended to induce fiber type shifts in MHC II fibers. The effects of NMES on single-muscle fiber contractility were modest, and it was unable to prevent declines in the function in MHC IIA fibers. NMES did not alter intermyofibrillar mitochondrial content/structure but was associated with reductions in subsarcolemmal mitochondria. Our results demonstrate that NMES induces muscle fiber hypertrophy and fiber type shifts in MHC II fibers but had minimal effects on fiber contractility and promoted reductions in subsarcolemmal mitochondria. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the utility of NMES as an exercise surrogate in cancer patients and other conditions.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This is the first study to evaluate whether neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) can be used as an exercise surrogate to improve skeletal muscle fiber size or function in cancer patients receiving treatment. We show that NMES promoted muscle fiber hypertrophy and fiber type shifts but had minimal effects on single-fiber contractility and reduced subsarcolemmal mitochondria.
Keywords: exercise; hypertrophy; muscle contraction.