Dopamine Transporter Density Profiles in Patients With Periodic Limb Movements

Summary

Restless legs syndrome and periodic limb movement (PLM)are sleep-related movement disorders and studies have shown changes in striatal dopaminergic activity in patients with these disorders. Physical exercise has been shown to improve the symptoms of restless legs syndrome and PLM, as has treatment with dopamine agonists. However, the mechanism by which physical exercise acts as a non-pharmacological treatment in improving symptoms of restless legs syndrome and PLM remains unknown. The investigators evaluated dopamine transporter density profiles in 16 sedentary patients (control and experimental - with PLM, groups) and the influence of acute physical exercise on its concentration after a maximal exercise test. Each patient underwent baseline polysomnography to evaluate sleep patterns and PLM index values. After obtaining the polysomnography baseline, the single photon emission computer tomography baseline was determined. Subsequently, the volunteers performed a maximal exercise test in the morning, followed by a single photon emission computer tomography two hours later and polysomnography that night, to assess the effect of acute physical exercise on dopamine transporter and sleep patterns. The results showed significant lower dopamine transporter baseline densities in the striatum region for the experimental group. The results also showed a significant reduction in the periodic leg movement rate in the experimental group and a significant increased percentage of stage-1 non-REM sleep in both groups after maximal exercise test. Significant differences between the groups were only observed for Stage 2 sleep and slow wave sleep. Our results show that patients with PLM had a lower dopamine transporter density in the left putamen region compared to the control group and an acute physical exercise (maximal exercise test) did not alter this profile, providing evidence that this improvement is the result of chronic physical exercise.

Conditions

• Periodic Limb Movements in Sleep

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Aerobic Physical Exercise

All individuals were submitted to physical exercise reaching maximum effort

BEHAVIORAL

Aerobic Physical Exercise

All individuals were submitted to physical exercise reaching maximum effort

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Associação Fundo de Incentivo à Pesquisa

  collaborator OTHER

• Federal University of São Paulo

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Marco Tulio Mello, PhD · Federal University of São Paulo

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

45 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

MALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2009-03-31

Primary Completion

2010-10-31

Completion

2010-12-31

Countries

• Brazil

Study Locations