The effects of regular swimming exercise and melatonin on the neurons localized in the striatum of hemiparkinsonian rats

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative movement disorder. We aimed to investigate the efects of regular swimming exercise and melatonin applied in the 6-Hydroxydopamine-induced Parkinson’s disease rats by analysing den dritic spine of striatal neurons. Twenty-four male Wistar albino rats were used. 6-Hydroxydopamine unilaterally injected four (control, exercise, melatonin and exercise+melatonin) groups were included in the study. Tyrosine hydroxylase expres sion was detected by immunohistochemistry. Neurons and structures were identifed from three-dimensional images by Neurolucida software. There was not any apparent diference for tyrosine hydroxylase positive neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta and fbres in the striatum between the lesion sides of hemiparkinsonian groups. The treatment groups blocked the apomorphine-induced increase in rotations compared to the control group. In stepping test, the treatment groups prevented the loss of stepping in the contralateral side of hemiparkinsonian groups. The melatonin mostly had a positive efect on motor activity tests. In morphological analyses, the 6-Hydroxydopamine-induced lesion led to the reduction of the total dendritic length and number of branches. In the treatment groups, the reduction of the dendritic parameters was not observed. 6-Hydroxydopamine lesion led to a decrease in the total spine density, spine densities of thin and mushroom types. The exercise and melatonin treatments prevented the loss of spine density. The exercise treatment prevented the loss of spine density of mushroom type spines. The melatonin treatment blocked the loss of spine density of stubby type. In conclusion, these results provide evidence for efective additional protective therapeutic strategies for Parkinson’s disease. In conclusion, results from the current study provide evidence for swimming exercise and melatonin as a promising candidate for efective additional protective strategies for PD