effect of 8-week aquatic training and resistance training on plasma nt-4 levels and nt-4 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in women with multiple sclerosis

Background and objectives: the present study aimed to investigate effects of eight weeks of aquatic exercise and resistance training on plasma neurotrophin-4 (nt-4) levels and nt-4 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pbmcs) of women with multiple sclerosis (ms). methods: thirty women with ms were randomly assigned to a resistance-training group, an aquatic exercise group and a control group. after separating plasma and pbmcs from blood samples, level of plasma nt-4 and nt-4 expression was measured after eight weeks of exercise via elisa and real-time pcr, respectively. results: the level of plasma nt-4 and nt-4 expression increased significantly following eight weeks of aquatic training and resistance training. conclusion: based on the results of the present study, both resistance training and aquatic exercise can increase the level of plasma nt-4 and nt-4 expression in female ms patients. it can be concluded that such trainings could have protective and positive effects on the nervous system of ms patients.