Micheal D. Phillips1, Angela L. Ridgel2, Jerrold L. Vitek3, Katherine Koenig, Erik Beall, Mark Lowe, Jay L. Alberts4,5
1Imaging Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland , OH, USA; 2Department of Exercise Physiology, Kent State University; 3Department of Neuroscience, Cleveland Clinic; 4Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cleveland Clinic; 5FES Center, Louis Stokes CVAMC
Forced exercise has been shown to produce a symptomatic relief in Parkinson's disease. The present study compares forced exercise to levodopa therapy using both clinical measures and functional MRI in six subjects with Parkinson's disease. FMRI data demonstrates increased activation in the SMA and M1 regions in response to both exercise and medication. Quantitative analysis of fMRI data shows significant correlation between percentage activation increase following forced exercise and medication. Findings suggest that same underlying mechanisms may provide symptomatic relief from Parkinson's disease in both levodopa therapy and forced exercise.
Keywords