Aerobic Exercise Influences Parkinson’s Disease-Related Alterations in Cortico-Striatal Functional Connectivity
Keywords
No Thumbnail Available
Authors
Issue Date
2018-08-23
Language
en
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Aerobic exercise during Parkinson's disease (PD) partially prevents the progression
of motor symptoms that arise primarily as a result of dopamine
depletion in the putamen. In human patients, PD has been associated with
alterations in the coupling between the dopamine depleted putamen and sensorimotor
cortex that may contribute to motor symptom progression. Studies
involving animal models of PD indicate that aerobic exercise may in
uence
these alterations by enhancing neuroplasticity that strengthens basal ganglia
circuitry involved in motor control. To investigate this, patients with
PD were randomly assigned to aerobic exercise and active control interventions
that lasted six months. Patients were scanned at rest with functional
magnetic resonance imaging and motor symptom severity was assessed before
and after intervention. Seed-based functional connectivity was used to
characterize longitudinal changes in the coupling between sensorimotor cortex
and subregions of the putamen. It was predicted that aerobic exercise
would prevent a shift in the coupling of sensorimotor cortex from posterior
to anterior putamen. Contrary to this prediction, it was found that aerobic
exercise prevented a PD-related increase in coupling between sensorimotor
cortex and the posterior putamen. The clinical relevance of this increase is
unclear, however, as aerobic exercise did not lead to improvements in motor
symptom progression. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that PDrelated
alterations in the coupling between sensorimotor cortex and putamen
can be in
uenced by aerobic exercise. Further research is required in order
to establish how this in
uence can be taken advantage of in a clinical setting.
Description
Citation
Supervisor
Faculty
Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen