2023-07-18 12:00:00
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the destruction of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra of the brain. This leads to motor disorders such as muscle rigidity, tremor at rest and slowness of movement as well as other complications such as cognitive impairment that cannot be cured. But new hope is born for the 167,000 people affected by this pathology in France.
Parkinson’s: intensive exercise could slow the disease
Scientists from several Italian research centers have discovered that intensive exercise, especially running, slows the progression of Parkinson’s disease. Through tests conducted on rodents, they have shown that daily 30-minute treadmill training sessions can slow the spread of pathological alpha-synuclein aggregates, which are responsible for the gradual and progressive dysfunction of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra of the brain.
The team also noticed that intense exercise increased levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). The latter interacts with the NMDA glutamate receptor, allowing neurons in the striatum, a region of the brain involved in regulating movement, to respond more effectively to stimuli. This helps to improve the motor function of people with Parkinson’s disease.
Parkinson’s: sport, a new avenue for non-drug treatment?
Currently, treatment for Parkinson’s disease relies primarily on drugs aimed at restoring dopamine levels in the brain. However, these treatments can have side effects and their effectiveness may decrease over time.
According to the researchers, their findings pave the way for the identification of new therapeutic targets for Parkinson’s disease. Professor Paolo Calabresi, professor of neurology and main author of the article published in Science Advancesexplain “We have uncovered a never-before-seen mechanism through which exercise performed in the early stages of the disease induces beneficial effects on movement control that can persist over time even after training is stopped.”. He then added in a press release taken up by Sci Tech Daily : “In the future, it would be possible to identify new therapeutic targets and functional markers to be considered in order to develop non-drug treatments to be adopted in combination with current drug therapies”.
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