Physical exercise plasticity on motor cortex and motor behaviour in early phase Parkinson's Disease animal model

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the elderly. PD promotes motor disorders. Exercise, in turn, has been described in terms of its beneficial effects in PD with decreased neuronal loss, improvement of behavioral and changes in the pattern of cortical excitability. The objective of this project is to understand physical exercise as a possible way to slow or reverse the motor abnormalities in the early phase of PD, correlating the histological changes of rat tissue with neurofunctional image (a possible procedure at the clinical medicine) and behavioral tests. To do this, we will evaluate neurochemical, neurofunctional and behavioral changes 10 days after induction of PD model. The rats will be subjected to the model of PD induced by unilateral striatal 6-hydroxydopamine and to a protocol of treadmill exercise. The behavioral responses of rats will be investigated with cylinder test; Cellular and microglial activation will be determined by immunostaining for Egr1 and Iba1, respectively. By immunohistochemistry, we will evaluate GFAP, synaptic proteins (synapsin and synaptophysin) and structural (neurofilaments and MAP- 2), and also dopamine receptors (D1 and D2) and BDNF (TrkB and p75) in different brain regions. Neurofunctional changes will be evaluated in rats with the radiopharmaceuticals [18F] FDG PET (Fludeoxyglucose), obtained by positron emission tomography (PET), which assesses the activity of glucose in the brain of rats. Thus, this study can help to understand the motor changes that could occur in initial phase of PD, and may provide a clinic correlation with cellular, molecular and neurofunctional events of PD with the effects of physical exercise.