The effect of high intensity swimming interval training on gene expression of some hippocampal inflammatory markers in rats with Parkinson's disease

Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects peripheral organs as well as the central nervous system (CNS). The present study was done to examine the effect of high intensity swimming interval training on gene expression of some hippocampal inflammatory markers in rats with PD. In this experimental study, 21 male Wistar rats (aged 8-10 weeks; weight 200 ± 10.2 grams) were divided into three groups including: healthy control, PD and training. PD was induced by injection of 1 mg/kg of reserpine during 5 days. The rats in the training group performed 6 weeks of HIIT including 20 times of 30 seconds of swimming with 30 seconds of rest between each time. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and LSD post hoc test were run using SPSS-22 at the P <0.05. Data revealed that TNF-α gene expression was reduced after 6 weeks of swimming interval training (p=0.01) compared to the PD group. We observed non-significant decrease in IL-1β after the intervention as compared to the PD group (p=0.6). According the results of this study, high intensity swimming interval training is effective in reducing the gene expression of some hippocampal inflammatory markers in rats with PD and it is suggested as the effective strategy to improve PD.