ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems
This article is part of the Research TopicMicrobiome and its Roles in Disease Diagnosis and Treatment: Pathogen Resistance Spectrum, Metabolism, Risk Model, and Vaccine DesignView all 14 articles
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation treated anterior talo-fibular ligament injured rat through the gut-joint axis and intestinal microbiota
Provisionally accepted
- 1First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China
- 2Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China
- 3The Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China
- 4Kunming Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China
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Objective: This study demonstrated that transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and its induced fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) could treat anterior talo-fibular ligament (ATFL) injury rat and modify the intestinal microbiota via the gut-joint axis. Methods: An ATFL injury model was duplicated and treated with low, medium, or high-intensity of TENS. After 1, 2, and 3 weeks of TENS treatment, the improvements and the expression levels of NOD2/IL-6/NF-B/BMP-2/TGF-were measured. The intestinal microbiota was analyzed via 16S rDNA sequencing. After FMT which induced by TENS, the improvement of ATFL injury rat was analyzed. Results: After TENS treatment, compared with the model control group, the bio-mechanical, gait, bone mineral density (BMD), etc. parameters were elevated in the TENS groups (P < 0.05); the expression of NOD2/IL-6 decreased and the BMP-2/TGF-increased in the TENS groups (P < 0.05). The intestinal microbiota was altered, including increases in the abundances of Erysipelotrichaceae, Lachnospira, Eubacterium, Phascolarctobacterium, and Alloprevotella. After FMT, similar improvements were found in ATFL injury rats. Conclusion: TENS ameliorated ATFL injury rat by regulating the NOD2/IL-6/NF-B/BMP-2/TGF-and changed the intestinal microbiota through the gut-joint axis. Dominant intestinal microbiota was associated with FMT and could improve ATFL injury rat.
Keywords: Anklesprain, Anterior talo-fibularligament (ATFL), fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), intestinal microbiota, Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)
Received: 07 Jan 2026; Accepted: 06 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 CHEN, MA, Chen, ZHANG, TANG and Sun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yan Sun
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