Parkinson’s disease: Exercise may stop crucial neurons from degrading
Regular exercise prevents neurons crucial for movement from degrading in rats with symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, potentially explaining why consistent physical activity can slow the advancement of symptoms
By Grace Wade
14 July 2023
Exercising consistently could help curb the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease
Shutterstock/KongNoi
Regular exercise prevents the degradation of neurons vital for movement in rats with symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, emphasising the importance of physical activity in the condition. The finding could also lead to new treatments for the disease.
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by a loss of dopamine-producing neurons in the substantia nigra, an area of the brain involved in movement. This can lead to tremors, loss of motor control, impaired balance or speech and other symptoms.
Previous research has shown intense exercise can slow the progression of early-stage Parkinson’s disease. To understand why, Paolo Calabresi at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Italy and his colleagues analysed the effect of physical activity on the brains of rats with symptoms of Parkinson’s.
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They injected abnormal protein strands characteristic of Parkinson’s disease into the striatum, a brain region crucial for movement, in 19 rats. Of these rats, 13 exercised on a treadmill for 30 minutes daily, five days a week for a month. The rest remained sedentary.
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After euthanising the animals, the team bathed slices of their brains in a solution that binds to a marker of dopamine, causing it to fluoresce. The sedentary rats had half as many dopamine-producing neurons in the substantia nigra, on average, as the active rats. This indicates that exercise may protect these cells from the harmful effects of the abnormal proteins.
