Background and Objective: The present study thus aims at investigating the effect of eight-week aquatic exercise and resistance training programs on the plasma levels and gene expression of neurotrophin -4 in PBMC in women with Multiple Sclerosis. Methods: Thirty women with MS were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups.The resistance training program and the aquatic exercise program were administered for 8 weeks. The participants of the control group did not participate in any exercise program during this period. After separating plasma and PBMC plasma levels and the gene expression of neurotrophin-4 were measured via ELISA and Real-Time PCR, respectively. In order to compare means, plasma levels and the gene expression of neurotrophin-4 of the three groups were measured by ANCOVA and ANOVA, respectively. Results: The results indicated that plasma levels and gene expressions of NT-4 of the aquatic and resistance training groups increased significantly from the pre-test to the post-test. Conclusion: one of the mechanisms of the exercise useful effects in the improvement phases MS patients is apparently to increase the level of some growth factors including neurotrophin-4, which play a part in developing and protecting the nervous system.

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