Caminhada controlada na esteira em pacientes com doença de Parkinson : influência sobre a marcha, equilíbrio e em medidas plasmáticas de parâmetros oxidativos e neurotrofina

Abstract

Parkinson disease (PD) is characterized by nigrostriatal degeneration with consequent depletion of dopamine content in the striatum as well as brain inflammatory and oxidative alterations leading to movement and coordination impairment. Recent studies showed that physical exercise in the treadmill is benefic for PD patients although there is a lack in the literature of plasma alterations in oxidative stress parameters and neurotrophins in PD patients submitted to physical exercise. Based on this, the present study had the goal to evaluate the impact of controlled treadmill walking in the functional capacity and plasma levels of oxidative stress parameters and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) of PD patients. To do this, participants from both sexes were submitted to an open and randomized trial from august 2013 to February 2014. The participants were randomized in two groups control (CG) and intervention group (IG). The IG comprised PD patients in stage II and/or III, based on the Hoehn and Yahr scale. These patients were 40 years old or above and did not present dementia as evaluated by Mini-mental state examination (score> 21). Patients who presented signals of clinical worsening, such as increased tremor during activities, or presented two consecutive absences during the treatment or a total of three absences were excluded from the study. The evaluation related to the functional capacity (e.g. quality of life, static analyses and dynamic gait) and plasma parameters (lipid peroxidation, reduced glutathione (GSH) and BDNF were performed before and immediately after eight weeks of intervention. The IG group started the protocol individually with two weekly interventions in the treadmill with 80 % of maximum velocity based on the Harbor protocol in a total of 16 interventions. The CG was maintained only in drug treatment. The results were evaluated using the SPSS software version 17.0 considering differences when p<005. The demographic data were homogeneous based on the variables age, sex, weight, time of disease, mini-mental and depression tests. Quality of life did not present significant differences in the physical coefficient summarized, however in the mental coefficient summarized there was a difference between groups in the post intervention period (p= 0.03). There were no differences in the surface of right (RF) and left feet (LF) neither in the distance of the feet in relation to the barocenter. There was no alteration in the medium and maximal pressure of RF and LF. In relation to the variable surface, a significant difference in the period pre-intervention in the LF was observed (p= 0.001). In the period post-intervention there as a difference in the surface of RF (p= 0.001), in the antero-posterior oscillation of the LF (p= 0.01) and in the latero-lateral oscillation of the RF (p= 0.01). Regarding the gait velocity we observed before intervention a difference in the mean velocity of RF (p= 0.04). In the IG we observed a strong association before intervention between BDNF and GSH (r= 0,8; p=0,001), as well as between BDNF and physical activity (r= 0,7; p=0,03). We can conclude that controlled treadmill walking improves functional capacity of PD patients, accompanied by increased levels of antioxidant defenses.