RxPG News Feed for RxPG News

Medical Research Health Special Topics World
  Home
 
   Health
 Aging
 Asian Health
 Events
 Fitness
 Food & Nutrition
 Happiness
 Men's Health
 Mental Health
 Occupational Health
 Parenting
 Public Health
 Sleep Hygiene
 Women's Health
 
   Healthcare
 Africa
 Australia
 Canada Healthcare
 China Healthcare
 India Healthcare
 New Zealand
 South Africa
 UK
 USA
 World Healthcare
 
   Latest Research
 Aging
  Dementia
  Parkinson's
   Rotenone
 Alternative Medicine
 Anaethesia
 Biochemistry
 Biotechnology
 Cancer
 Cardiology
 Clinical Trials
 Cytology
 Dental
 Dermatology
 Embryology
 Endocrinology
 ENT
 Environment
 Epidemiology
 Gastroenterology
 Genetics
 Gynaecology
 Haematology
 Immunology
 Infectious Diseases
 Medicine
 Metabolism
 Microbiology
 Musculoskeletal
 Nephrology
 Neurosciences
 Obstetrics
 Ophthalmology
 Orthopedics
 Paediatrics
 Pathology
 Pharmacology
 Physiology
 Physiotherapy
 Psychiatry
 Radiology
 Rheumatology
 Sports Medicine
 Surgery
 Toxicology
 Urology
 
   Medical News
 Awards & Prizes
 Epidemics
 Launch
 Opinion
 Professionals
 
   Special Topics
 Ethics
 Euthanasia
 Evolution
 Feature
 Odd Medical News
 Climate

Last Updated: Oct 11, 2012 - 10:22:56 PM
Journal of Neuroscience Parkinson's Channel

subscribe to Parkinson's newsletter
Latest Research : Aging : Parkinson's

   EMAIL   |   PRINT
Exercise may lead to improvement in patients with Parkinson's

May 15, 2007 - 7:20:43 PM , Reviewed by: Dr. Ankush Vidyarthi
"Our study shows that the beneficial effects of exercise in Parkinson's Disease may be due to a more efficient use of dopamine."

 
[RxPG] A new study from researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) shows that treadmill exercises may benefit patients with Parkinson's Disease and those with similar movement disorders.

The study is led by USC neuroscientist Michael Jakowec, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurology and appears in the May 16 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Recent studies have shown that exercise can have beneficial effects in patients with Parkinson's Disease but the underlying reasons haven't been fully explored. This new study using treadmill exercise in animal models looked at the effects of dopamine in motor learning and execution.

Parkinson's Disease is a chronic and degenerative disease that leads to slowness, balance disorders, tremors and difficulty in walking. The disease results from the loss of dopamine-producing nerve cells in the brain. It is critical as a stimulator of motor system nerves in the body. While there is no current cure for the disease, several treatments do offer relief from its symptoms.

This particular study looked at treadmill exercise and its effects between animal models with and without a loss of certain cells that are similar to what a Parkinson's Patient might suffer. Given the importance of dopamine in Parkinson's Disease, the researchers looked at changes in dopamine levels, among other results.

They found that the subjects with cell loss and that exercised indeed had an effect on dopamine levels while normal subjects showed less of a difference in levels.

"Our study shows that the beneficial effects of exercise in Parkinson's Disease may be due to a more efficient use of dopamine, "says Giselle Petzinger, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the study's first author. "Surviving dopamine cells in our animal models- made to simulate what Parkinson's patients suffer with- subjected to intensive treadmill exercise appear to work harder."

Studies with John Walsh, Ph.D., associate professor at the USC Andrus Gerontology Center and a co-investigator of the study, showed that these cells release greater amounts of dopamine and decrease the rate of its removal from the synapse compared to neurons in subjects that do not undergo exercise.

The findings suggest that the benefits of treadmill exercise on motor performance may be accompanied by changes in dopamine neurotransmission that are different in the injured subjects compared to the non-injured.

"Studies in our animal model of Parkinson's disease support the fact that exercise is beneficial for patients with Parkinson's," says Jakowec. "Exercise may help the injured brain to work more efficiently by allowing the remaining dopamine producing neurons to work harder and in doing so may promote stronger connections in the brain."

Further studies will investigate if beneficial effects of exercise have long-term effect on the injured brain, identifying the molecular links between exercise and the brain, and to better understand the molecular mechanisms within neurons that lead to these changes.



Publication: Journal of Neuroscience
On the web: http://www.usc.edu/ 

Advertise in this space for $10 per month. Contact us today.


Related Parkinson's News


Subscribe to Parkinson's Newsletter

Enter your email address:


 About Dr. Ankush Vidyarthi
This news story has been reviewed by Dr. Ankush Vidyarthi before its publication on RxPG News website. Dr. Ankush Vidyarthi, MBBS is a senior editor of RxPG News. He is also managing the marketing and public relations for the website. In his capacity as the senior editor, he is responsible for content related to mental health and psychiatry. His areas of special interest are mass-media and psychopathology.
RxPG News is committed to promotion and implementation of Evidence Based Medical Journalism in all channels of mass media including internet.
 Additional information about the news article
Funding for this study comes from the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, Team Parkinson Los Angeles, the George and MaryLou Boone Foundation, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the US Army Neurotoxin Exposure Treatment Research Program.

"Effects of Treadmill Exercise on Dopaminergic Transmission in the 1-Methyl-4-Phenyl-1,2,3,6-Tetrahydropyridine-Lesioned Mouse Model of Basal Ganglia Injury", Petzinger, G.,Walsh, J.,Akopian, G., Hogg, E., Abernathy, A., Arevalo, P.,Turnquist, P., Vuckovic, M., Fisher, B.,Togasaki, D., Jakowec, M. Journal of Neuroscience, May 16, 2007.
 Feedback
For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 
Contact us

RxPG Online

Nerve

 

    Full Text RSS

© All rights reserved by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited (India)