Background: The protective effect of 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (VD3) supplementation along with forced exercise on Parkinson’s disease (PD) is subtle. Objectives: In this experimental study, we investigated the pretreatment effect of 4 weeks of VD3 supplementation and lowintensity treadmill running on dopamine (DA), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) levels in parkinsonian rats. Methods: In this experimental study, we provided 54 male Wistar rats (12-week old) from Pasteur institute, Iran. One mL/kg BW VD3 was injected every other day. Training encompassed 30 min/day, 5 days a week over a period of 4 weeks on treadmillat the rate of 15 m/min. Parkinson’s disease (PD) was induced by the stereotaxic surgery injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into the striatum of male Wistar rats. For confirming rats with PD, cylinder behavioral rotation test was employed. One way analysis of variance and Tukey post-hoc was utilized for comparing intergroup differences using GraphPad prism (6.07) software. Results: The level of DA, TH, and IGF-1 in the striatumdecreased after nervous toxin injection. VD3 prevented the decrease of the level of these factors significantly, and also combining it with exercise could do so. Four weeks of treadmill running pretreatment could not prevent the level of IGF-1, TH and DA from decreasing. Furthermore, cylinder test results revealed that VD3 alone, and along with exercise prevents the level of these substances from decreasing, and the rotations of PD rats did not show a significant difference compared with the healthy rats which is indicative of neuroprotective effect of this treatment. Conclusions: VD3 supplementation alongside low-intensity treadmill running had protective effects on behavioral symptoms and molecular changes against the PD-inducing nervous toxin. Therefore, this approach can be used as a protective nonpharmacological tool for brain‘s health against PD.
