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Comparison of voluntary and forced exercise effects on motor behavior in 6-hydroxydopamine-lesion rat model of Parkinson’s disease

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Abstract

Purpose

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders. This study compared the effects of two types of exercises on motor dysfunction in characterizing adult male Wistar rats with unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesions placed in the median forebrain bundle.

Methods

Sixty adult male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to six groups: the control intact and Parkinson group (no exercise), the forced group (sham, PD), the voluntary group (sham, PD). The effects of 4 weeks of forced treadmill running and voluntary wheel running on motor behavior were investigated in the open field, Rotarod and hanging tests.

Results

The outcomes showed that although the length moved by the voluntary exercise group was more than that in the forced exercise, the forced exercise resulted in better performance in Rotarod (P = 0.01), whereas voluntary exercise was found to increase rearing behavior (P = 0.01). Both exercise groups were the same in the open field (p > 0.05), grooming frequency (P = 0.12), and hanging test (P = 0.181).

Conclusion

We found that wheel running and treadmill running exercise protocols improved the motor impairments in the 6-OHDA-lesioned rat model of Parkinson’s disease; therefore, our result suggests that both exercise methods could be beneficial for PD patients to reduce their motor dysfunction.

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Acknowledgements

The valuable help and support of the Neuroscience Research Center of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Iran, was much appreciated. Also, we would like to thank Dr. Khadije Esmaeilpour and Dr. Sina Kakoei for their technical assistance in this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience Research Centre, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

    V. Sheibani & F. Rafie

  2. Sport and Physical Education Faculty, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    F. Rafie, M. Shahbazi & M. Sheikh

  3. Institute Pasture, Tehran, Iran

    N. Naghdi

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  1. V. Sheibani
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  2. F. Rafie
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  3. M. Shahbazi
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  4. N. Naghdi
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  5. M. Sheikh
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Correspondence to F. Rafie.

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Conflict of interests

The authors declare no conflict of interests.

Ethical approval

The study protocol was submitted to the neuroscience research center of medical university of Kerman, (ethical code: KNRC/94/59), and it was determined that the research activity was not human research as defined by guidelines. All the experimental protocols and treatments were approved by the Ethics Committee of Kerman Neuroscience Research Center (EC: KNRC/94/59) that was completely in agreement with the “NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals”.

All procedures performed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional neuroscience research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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For this type of study, formal consent is not required.

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Sheibani, V., Rafie, F., Shahbazi, M. et al. Comparison of voluntary and forced exercise effects on motor behavior in 6-hydroxydopamine-lesion rat model of Parkinson’s disease. Sport Sci Health 13, 203–211 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-017-0354-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-017-0354-9

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