Category: Allied Healthcare Professionals
Objective: This narrative review explored the potential role of exercise as an epigenetic mediator of cognitive function in people with PD and the possible underlying epigenetic mechanisms.
Background: Environmental factors such as nutrition, medications and exercise, have potential to regulate gene expression via epigenetic mechanisms.Exercise prescription has been identified as a potential way to modulate epigenetics and phenotype expression in the people with Parkinson ’s disease (PD). However, the role of exercise and epigeneticsas a mediator of cognitive function in people with Parkinson’s disease is under-explored
Method: This study is a narrative review of the literature. Relevant articles that discuss the action of exercise in people with PD with a focus on epigenetic mediation of cognitive function were sourced from searches in the PubMed, Medline, and Cochrane Central databases. The selected articles were discussed under the following themes: epigenetic mechanisms;the role of epigeneticsin PD; and the use of exercise to modulate epigenetics and enhance cognitive function in PD.
Results: Exercise therapy improves global cognitive function in people with PD,according to a recent systematic review. Exercise has also been proposed to modulate epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone acetylation, and non-coding RNAs, in humans and animal models of PD.These epigenetic mechanisms may improve long-term brain plasticity and memory function. DNA demethylation appears to impair the role of the α-synuclein gene and, as a result, impairs the function of dopaminergic neurons in people with PD. Running and resistance training has been noted to promote DNA hypomethylation in the hippocampus of mice, which has a positive impact on brain function. Furthermore, in animal models, exercise has been shown to regulate transcription of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene by mediating changes in histone acetylation and DNA methylation, which is one of the essential mechanism for promoting brain plasticity and cognitive function.
Conclusion: There is evidence to suggest that exercise interventions via epigenetic modulation may improve cognitive function in humans and animals. However, more evidence is needed to provide guidance on the role of exercise interventions and their epigenetic role in improving cognition in people with PD.
References: 1. Feng Y, Jankovic J, Wu YC. Epigenetic mechanisms in Parkinson’s disease. Journal of the neurological sciences. 2015 Feb 15;349(1-2):3-9.
2. Barter JD, Foster TC. Aging in the brain: new roles of epigenetics in cognitive decline. The Neuroscientist. 2018 Oct;24(5):516-25.
3. Pavlou MA, Outeiro TF. Epigenetics in Parkinson’s disease. Neuroepigenomics in aging and disease. 2017:363-90.
4. Fernandes J, Arida RM, Gomez-Pinilla F. Physical exercise as an epigenetic modulator of brain plasticity and cognition. Neuroscience &Biobehavioral Reviews. 2017 Sep 1;80:443-56.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
T. Adeniji, S. Olsen, N. Signal, J. Adeleke. A Narrative Review of Literature on Exercise Therapy and Cognitive Impairment in Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease: The Role of Epigenetics as a Mediator. [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2022; 37 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/a-narrative-review-of-literature-on-exercise-therapy-and-cognitive-impairment-in-individuals-with-parkinsons-disease-the-role-of-epigenetics-as-a-mediator/. Accessed June 4, 2025.« Back to 2022 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/a-narrative-review-of-literature-on-exercise-therapy-and-cognitive-impairment-in-individuals-with-parkinsons-disease-the-role-of-epigenetics-as-a-mediator/