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Combining an eye-tracking decision-making task with standard motor and cognitive tests may help detect Parkinson’s disease earlier, even before major movement symptoms appear.
Aerobic exercise can improve movement in Parkinson’s disease even after major dopamine loss, potentially reflected in reduced blood biomarkers of disease severity.
A human-like maze test in PINK1−/− rats may help detect early cognitive decline in Parkinson’s disease before motor symptoms appear.
In a Parkinson’s rat model, early dopamine boosts may delay movement problems, but aging reduces this compensation, leading to motor decline.
Parkinson’s research may be missing half the picture—dopamine changes in a second brain area, the substantia nigra, could be just as important for movement as the well-studied striatum.
In Parkinson’s, the brain boosts certain dopamine signals in one area to help delay movement problems, even as damage worsens.
GDNF therapy may fail if started late because key brain receptors decline, so boosting these receptors early might improve treatment in Parkinson’s.
Rodent models of Parkinson’s help us understand how exercise improves movement problems. But to apply this to people, we need to consider what patients are physically able to do.
Veterans with mild brain injuries have a higher risk of Parkinson’s, and spotting early thinking problems may help understand why.
Our latest publication in Frontiers in Psychiatry showcases how translational research connects preclinical discoveries to the Parkinson’s community—using the Iowa Gambling Task to illuminate subtle cognitive shifts across species.
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Benefits of High vs Moderate Intensity Exercise
At the World Parkinson's Congress, there was considerable discussion about the benefits of exercise. The main symposium was extremely well-attended and we had the opportunity to sit at the Roundtable on Wednesday to discuss exercise impact. It is our opinion that, at this time, there is no consensus that high-intensity exercise provides a superior outcome to moderate intensity aerobic exercise. Evidence exists that regular practice of aerobic exercise at either intensity will provide a benefit in motor performance based upon the UPDRS part III scoring system. We believe the most important issues include compliance to an aerobic exercise regimen that is practicable for the patient's ability, and should be practiced ideally 3 times per week, for at least 30 min. Below, we provide links to the evidence that exists for exercise benefits practiced at either intensity. We include one paper from our group in this collection of reviews and primary research articles.
Most dopamine function in Parkinson’s disease is lost within the first few years after diagnosis—often before many neurons have fully died—suggesting the majority of degeneration occurs very early.
Avoiding medication timing issues, other complications while inpatient