Comparing the influence of exercise intensity on brain-derived neurotrophic factor serum levels in people with Parkinson’s disease: a pilot study
Open accessAbstract
Introduction Endogenous brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is thought to be protective against the neurodegeneration seen in Parkinson's disease (PD), and is thought to increase during exercise. This has been proposed as a possible mechanism by which exercise improves outcomes for people with PD. We conducted a pilot study to investigate the role of exercise intensity on BDNF levels in people with PD.Methods Participants of early- to mid-stage disease were recruited from a single PD service in north-east England, UK into two separate studies of exercise in PD, one involving moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) and one involving high-intensity interval training (HIIT), both had control groups. In both the interventions, participants exercise three times per week for 12 weeks. Blood samples were taken for BDNF analysis at the start and end of the first session and the start and end of the final session, with corresponding samples taken in controls.Results Data were available for 27 participants (13 intervention, 14 control) in the MICT intervention and 17 (9 intervention, 8 control) in the HIIT intervention. BDNF level did not rise significantly from the start to end of individual sessions. Across the 12 week period, they rose significantly in the HIIT intervention group, but not in controls or the MICT intervention group.Conclusions High-intensity interval training appears to have a greater impact on BDNF than MICT. Future work should directly compare exercise modalities and investigate the impact of BDNF levels on disease progression and quality of life.
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Exercise therapy in the form of endurance training, resistance training, intensive mixed training, or high-intensity interval training resulted in a reduction of clinical symptoms in Parkinson's disease.
“In addition, exercise therapy in the form of endurance training, resistance training, intensive mixed training, or high-intensity interval training (HIIT) resulted in a reduction of clinical symptoms in PD [145,146,147,148,149,150,151,152].”
From BDNF as a Promising Therapeutic Agent in Parkinson’s Disease (2020) · cites this paper as [150]
A few weeks or several months of physical training causes an increase in the initial BDNF level compared to the state before training, both in healthy subjects and Parkinson's disease patients.
“It was also found that a few weeks or several months of physical training causes an increase in the initial BDNF level compared to the state before training, both in healthy subjects and PD patients [150,160,161,162].”
From BDNF as a Promising Therapeutic Agent in Parkinson’s Disease (2020) · cites this paper as [150]
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BDNF as a Promising Therapeutic Agent in Parkinson’s Disease
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- Authors
- O’Callaghan, A., Harvey, M., Houghton, D., Gray, W. K., Weston, K. L., Oates, L. L., Romano, B., & Walker, R. W.
- Affiliations
- North Tyneside General Hospital (GB)
- Newcastle University (GB)
- Teesside University (GB)
- University of Brescia (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Gray, William K.
- Venue
- Aging Clinical and Experimental Research
- Published
- 2019-10-12
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1731-1738
- ISSN
- 1594-0667 (ISSN-L)
- 1720-8319
- OpenAlex
- W2979673817
- Cited by
- 55
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 3.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- Aging Clinical and Experimental Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Output (Edinburgh Napier University) (submittedVersion)
- Edinburgh Napier Research Repository (Edinburgh Napier University) (submittedVersion)
- Newcastle University ePrints (Newcastle Univesity)
- Funders
- Parkinson’s UK
- Graham Wylie Foundation
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Neurology › Parkinson's Disease Mechanisms and Treatments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Neurology › Neurological disorders and treatments
- Keywords
- Parkinson's disease, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, exercise intensity, high-intensity interval training, moderate-intensity continuous training, serum BDNF, exercise intervention, neurodegeneration
- MeSH terms
- High-Intensity Interval Training, Humans, Parkinson Disease, Pilot Projects, Quality of Life, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
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