Introduction Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) can be used to activate skeletal muscles and prevent atrophy during immobilization. However the underlying acute transcriptomic effects remains to be established. Thus, this study aimed to investigate how a single NMES-session, compared to a voluntary knee extension session (EX), influenced global mRNA-expression in the quadriceps muscle using newly developed textile electrodes integrated in pants.

Materials and Methods In 30 healthy participants, gene expression in skeletal muscle biopsies from vastus lateralis was assessed with RNA-sequencing, before and 3 hours after a 30-minute session of NMES and/or EX. The NMES-intensity was set to 20% of each participant’s pre-tested maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), 200(±79.7)Nm, corresponding to an acceptable level of discomfort (e.g. mean visual analogue scale (0-10) below 4). The EX-protocol was performed at 80% of 1-repetition maximum.

Results NMES and EX triggered 4448 and 2571 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) respectively, with 80% of EX-response overlapping. Gene set enrichment analysis demonstrated many common pathways, and well-known exercise-genes, e.g. PPARGC1A, ABRA and VEGFA, were also up-regulated by NMES. However, some pathways were exclusive to NMES, e.g. peripheral nervous system development, or EX, e.g. muscle tissue proliferation.

Conclusion A single NMES-session using the NMES-pants, applied with an acceptable level of discomfort at 20% of MVC, induced over 4000 DEGs largely overlapping with DEGs of EX, indicating that NMES to a large extent can produce similar molecular effects as EX. NMES can therefore potentially be an alternative for health benefits, especially in individuals not able to perform exercise.