Does a single bout of exercise impacts BDNF, oxidative stress and epigenetic markers in spinal cord injury patients?

Our aim was to evaluate the impact of a single bout of exercise, consisting of a gait training session with body weight support (BWS), on histone acetylation status (global histone H4 and H3 acetylation levels), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels, and oxidative stress markers in peripheral blood of individuals with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI). We also set out to compare these responses with those recorded after gait training performed using a walker and with no BWS. The subjects (nearly all with an incomplete spinal cord lesion) were each submitted to two 60-minute experimental sessions on separate days with a 1- week wash-out period between the interventions.