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. 2023 Feb 8;20(4):2925.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph20042925.

The Effects of Resistance Exercise on the Cardiorespiratory Tissue of Rats with Parkinson's Disease

Graziele Mayra Santos Moreira  1 , Laila Cristina Moreira Damázio  1 , Silvana Venâncio da Silva  1 , Augusto Targino Silveira  2 , Isabella Giordano Mesquita  3 , Luana Aparecida de Sousa Silva  3 , Luan Alves Pereira  3 , Ana Clara Silva Costa  3 , Ismael Augusto Lima Santos  3 , Maria Eduarda Paiva Campos  3 , Luna Sara Campos Vaz  3 , Zenaide Alves Cardoso  3 , José Victor Ribeiro Silva Gomes  3 , Paulo Henrique Almeida Campos Júnior  1 , Liliam Midori Ide  1
Affiliations

The Effects of Resistance Exercise on the Cardiorespiratory Tissue of Rats with Parkinson's Disease

Graziele Mayra Santos Moreira et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Parkinson's Disease (PD) affects the cardiorespiratory system, causing an increase in the left ventricular mass in the heart and respiratory muscle weakness in relation to healthy individuals. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of progressive resistive physical exercise on the vertical ladder on the histomorphometry of cardiac tissue and respiratory muscles in rats with PD. Seventy male Wistar rats, aged 40 days old, were divided into Parkinson's (PD) and Sham (SH) groups; they were also subdivided into groups that performed progressive resistive physical exercise on the vertical ladder Before Surgery (ExBS), After Surgery (ExAS), and Before and After Surgery (ExBAS). The physical training was carried out before and/or after PD induction. Exercise was performed five times a week for 25 min/day for four or eight weeks. PD induction was conducted via electrolytic stimulation of the Substantia nigra of the animals' brains, adopting the following stereotaxic table coordinates: -4.9; lateral medium equal to 1.7, and dorsoventral equal to 8.1. For the morphometric analysis of the heart, the following variables were calculated: relative weight and diameter and thickness of the left ventricle. The diaphragm and the myocardial, intercostal, and abdominal muscles were stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin (HE). The histomorphometric analysis was performed using the ImageJ software to assess the cross-sectional area of muscles and the number of muscle fibers. Progressive resistance exercise promoted the hypertrophy of respiratory muscles and the left ventricle in animals with PD.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease; exercise; heart; muscles.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Experimental protocol: exercise before surgery (ExBS); exercise after Surgery (ExAS), exercise before and after surgery (ExBAS), and sedentary (Sed).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Photomicrograph of the Substantia nigra of the midbrain at 4× magnification. (A) Animal from the PD group. (B) Animal from the Sham Group. The arrows show the area of electrolyte damage in the substantia nigra of animals with PD.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Lung Tissue Analysis. (A) Mean number of pulmonary alveoli. (B) Mean lung parenchyma thickness in the animal groups. (C) Photomicrographs of the lung parenchyma. (D) Photomicrograph of alveolar wall thickness (400× magnification).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Analysis of the cross-sectional area of the respiratory muscles at 400× magnification: (A) Diaphragm muscle, (B) Intercostal muscle, and (C) rectus abdominis muscle. Photomicrograph of the respiratory muscles: (D) diaphragm muscle ExAS, (E) intercostal muscle ExAS, and (F) rectus abdominis muscle ExAS.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Analysis of mean heart rate at rest and after physical training among groups. The relationship between body weight and heart weight (Figure 4) showed no significant differences in the PD and SH animals belonging to the same training or sedentary protocols (p = 0.86).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Morphometric analysis of the heart: (A) mean ratio of body weight to heart weight, (B) diameter of the left ventricle, and (C) thickness of the left ventricle. Photomicrograph of (E) diameter of the left ventricle in the PD-ExBAS group and (D) thickness of the left ventricle in the PD-ExBAS group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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