Intense exercise improves brain health markers in Parkinson’s disease

Newswise — Yale School of Medicine researchers report in a new study that regular, intense exercise may help protect the dopaminergic system of patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD), slowing and possibly even reversing disease progression.

Exercise has been reported to slow the clinical progression of PD, a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a progressive loss of dopamine-producing neurons in the brain region known as the substantia nigra. The Yale-led research team evaluated PET and MRI scans of patients with early and mild PD before and after a six-month program of high-intensity interval training exercise. “Our collaboration with the Beat Parkinson’s Today exercise program, a program specifically created for people with PD by Michelle Hespeler, offered the perfect platform to enable our participants to exercise in an intense but safe way” explained Bart de Laat, PhD, lead author of the study and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry.

The researchers observed a 19.95% increase in available dopamine transporter (DAT) levels, and a 5.3% increase in neuromelanin concentration, in the substantia nigra of patients who had followed the high intensity exercise program. This increase is significantly different than the independently observed reductions of 2.25% in DAT and 3.15% in neuromelanin concentration in the substantia nigra over six months in PD patients who did not exercise.

“These effects are remarkably consistent and substantial, which shows the value of these two complementary imaging techniques. With longer duration imaging studies, we hope to explore how long the effects persist” remarked co-senior author Evan D. Morris, PhD, Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging and Co-director of Imaging at the Yale PET Center.

The findings strongly suggest that widely reported clinical benefits of exercise in PD originate, at least partly, from a neuroprotective effect. “This is a big step in the scientific understanding of the value of exercise, not only for symptomatic clinical improvement, but to actually halt the progression of the underlying disease mechanism” added co-senior author, Sule Tinaz, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Neurology in the Movement Disorders Division.

The study's authors included Jocelyn Hoye, Gelsina Stanley, Michelle Hespeler, Jennifer Ligi, Varsha Mohan, Dusin W. Wooten, Xiaomeng Zhang, Thanh D. Nguyen, Jose Key, Giulia Colonna, Yiyun Huang, Nabeel Nabulsi, Amer Patel, and David Matuskey.