How Exercise Can Mitigate Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease

How Exercise Can Mitigate Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease  

Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington's Disease are all very common neurodegenerative diseases that affect thousands of people. They all revolve around the same issue of protein aggregates accumulating in the brain, leading to a disruption in one’s function. Parkinson's is particularly caused by the neurodegeneration in the substantia nigra of the brain which causes an impairment of dopamine production. With Parkinson’s Disease, a person typically will have problems with motor skills such as balance, involuntary movements, and difficulty walking. 

In the research paper, Endocytic vesicle rupture is a conserved mechanism of cellular invasion of amyloid proteins, Flavin et al study the disease-associated amyloid assemblies and their ability in rupturing intracellular vesicles after endocytosis. The researchers examined brain slices of people who had Parkinson’s disease, and they were able to conclude that α-synuclein assemblies were in fact able to induce vesicle rupture. They were able to analyze their results and get a better understanding of how the amyloid proteins are capable of giving rise to cellular dysfunction. The paper served as an excellent way to demonstrate some of the biological mechanisms that occur in subjects with neurological diseases. 

In the Washington Post article, “Parkinson’s patients and researchers search for exercise ‘prescription’,” the author Marlene Cimons describes how exercise has been able to positively impact Parkinson’s patients and how it might be able to delay its onset. In the beginning of the article, she includes a short story about a 79-year-old man with Parkinson’s and how he began struggling to walk and required a back brace because he could not hold straight posture. She explains how he began exercise classes that were specifically for Parkinson’s patients two times a week and using a stationary bike daily. She writes “Today he stands upright and has ditched the back brace and walker” (Cimons). This experience shows how exercise can have positive implications for those struggling with Parkinson’s disease. Although there are multiple treatments for the disease, exercise has been seen to be a very effective treatment that can help at any stage according to experts. She mentions some research that is currently being done at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine and how the clinical study will examine people with early Parkinson’s and the effects of two different levels of exercise. 

Although there have been recent studies that show that there are many benefits with exercising, there is much research that still must be done. It is still a mystery of exactly how exercise affects the brain and how it leads to these extraordinary effects. Comparing these exercise results with the research done regarding amyloid proteins, we can begin to ponder how exercise is affecting the mechanisms that Flavin et al studied. In all, patients with Parkinson’s Disease should continue to be encouraged to stay active in an effort to mitigate their symptoms and potentially slow the onset of their disease.

References

Cimons, Marlene. “Parkinson's Patients and Researchers Search for Exercise 'Prescription'.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 29 Nov. 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/11/26/parkinsons-exercise-prescription/.

Flavin, William P et al. “Endocytic vesicle rupture is a conserved mechanism of cellular invasion         by amyloid proteins.” Acta neuropathologica vol. 134,4 (2017): 629-653. doi:10.1007/s00401-017-1722-x