Effects of Exercise and Ferulic Acid on Alpha Synuclein and Neuroprotective Heat Shock Protein 70 in An Experimental Model of Parkinsonism Disease.

In this study we aimed to investigate and to compare the effects of ferulic acid (FR), muscle exercise (Ex) and combination of them on rotenone (ROT)-induced Parkinson disease (PD) in mice as well as their underlying mechanisms. Thirty five male C57BL/6 mice were allocated into 5 equal groups, 1) Normal control (CTL) group, 2) ROT group (rats received ROT 3 mg/Kg i.p. for 70 days), 3) FR group (rats received ROT + FR at 20 mg/kg/day), 4) Ex group (rats received ROT + swimming Ex) and 5) FR+Ex group (rats received ROT + FR and Ex). Compared to CTL group, ROT group showed significant impairment in motor performance and exploratory behavior with bradykinesia with significant loss of dopaminergic neurons (tyrosine hydroxylase, (TH)) and Lowy bodies (alpha synuclein) aggregates and significant reduction in Hsp70 expression (p< 0.05). Compared to ROT group, other treated groups (FR, EX and FR+Ex) showed significant improvement in motor performance, exploratory behavior and bradykinesia, TH density and Hsp70 with loss of Lowy bodies aggregates in corpus striatum, however the effect of FR alone was more potent than Ex alone (p< 0.05) and addition of Ex to FR caused no more significant improvement than FR alone.

CONCLUSION: FR and Ex seems to improve the motor performance in PD rodent model which might be due to upregulation of Hsp70 and increasing density of dopaminergic neurons in corpus striatum. FR offers more protective effects than Ex and combination of both did not offer more protection than FR alone.