The effect of high intensity interval swimming on DJ-1 and mir-874 gene expression of hippocampal cells in rats with Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease characterized by loss of the dopaminergic neurons, accompanied by neuroinflammation. The effect of high intensity interval training on dopaminergic neurons survival is not well known. The aim of present study was to examine the effect of high intensity interval swimming on DJ-1 and mir-874 gene expression of hippocampal cells in rats with Parkinson’s disease. In this experimental study, twenty-one 8 to 10-week-old male Wistar rats (weight 200 ± 10.2 grams) were divided into three groups (7 rats in each group), including: healthy control, PD and training. PD induced by injection of 1 mg/kg reserpine during 5 days. The rats in the training group performed high intensity interval swimming, including 20 times of 30 seconds of swimming with 30 seconds of rest between each time for 6 weeks. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and LSD post hoc test were run using SPSS-22 at the P <0.05. The study results indicated that DJ-1 gene expression were lower in the PD group compare to the healthy group and training group (p=0.02 and p=0.04 respectively); while, mir-874 gene expression was higher in the PD group compare to the healthy group and training group (p=0.001 and p=0.02 respectively). No significant difference was observed between training group and healthy group for these proteins' gene expression (p=0.6 and p=0.08 respectively). In general, it seems that high intensity swimming interval training is effective for improving PD by enhancing the mechanisms of dopaminergic neurons survival.