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Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disease. Oxidative stress, i.e., the imbalance between the generation of reactive oxygen species and the antioxidant defense capacity of the body, plays an important role in the pathogenesis of this disease. Physical exercise can regulate oxidative stress. The purpose of this study was to analyze the short- and long-term effects of an aquatic exercise program on oxidative stress levels in patients with Parkinson's disease. The aquatic exercise program was carried out during 1 month with two sessions per week (1 hour/session). Blood samples were collected at four different time points: pre-intervention, immediately, 48 hours, and 30 days after the first session of aquatic exercise program. Our results revealed that water-based programs modulated antioxidant enzyme activity, increased superoxide dismutase activity, reduced catalase activity, and increased the ratio of superoxide dismutase activity to catalase activity in patients with Parkinson's disease. Compared with pre-intervention and 48 hours after the first session of aquatic exercise program, superoxide dismutase activity was higher and catalase activity was lower immediately and 30 days after the first session. Our results demonstrated that aquatic exercise program could modulate oxidative stress, mainly by the effect of antioxidant enzyme activity. These results could better help understand the target of oxidative stress in Parkinson's disease. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Centro Universitario Metodista IPA (approval No. 1.373.911) on August 9, 2019 and registered with REBEC (registration number: RBR-6NJ4MK).

The present study aimed to analyze the short-and long-term effects of an aquatic exercise program on plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD). The aquatic exercise program lasted one month, and consisted of two sessions per week (1 hour per session). Blood samples were collected at four different timepoints: pre-intervention (T0), immediately after the first session (T1), 48 hours after the first session (T2), and 1 month after the intervention (T3). We found a significant decrease in BDNF levels at T2 vs T1 (p0.05). However, no changes were observed at the other time-points. Our results demonstrated that the intervention reduced plasma BDNF levels in PD individuals in a time-dependent manner: specifically, we observed acute effects, but no delayed effects.

The study aimed to compare the basal plasma levels of inflammatory markers (MCP-1, IL-1ra and IL-1β) in Parkinson Disease group (PDG) with control healthy subjects (control group, CG), as well to investigate the acute and chronic effects of an aquatic physiotherapy program on these biomarkers in PDG. Firstly, a rest blood sampling was taken from antecubital vein of the PD and CG. After, the PD individuals were submitted to a supervisioned aquatic physiotherapy program during 1 month, twice a week (60 min/session). In order to evaluate the acute and chronic effects of the intervention on the biomarkers, blood samples were in 4 times: before the exercise program (pre), immediately after the first session, 48 h after the exercise session and 1 month after the intervention. It was observed higher levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and MCP-1 and reduced levels IL-1ra in PDG compared to the CG. Regarding the intervention effects in PDG, a remarkable reduction on IL-1β and MCP-1 levels at 48 h when compared to the basal were found. Furthermore, after 1 month, it was observed diminished levels of MCP-1 in combination to an increase on IL-1ra. Our data support the idea that an inflammatory status is linked to PD and that MCP-1 and IL-1ra could be taken as promising biomarkers in this condition. We also demonstrated that an aquatic physiotherapy program may offer a potential intervention able to attenuate immune responses in PD individuals in a short and long-term perspective.