Evaluation of dopamine transporter density in healthy Brazilians using Tc-99m TRODAT-1 SPECT.

The presynaptic dopamine transporter (DAT) modulates the uptake of dopamine by regulating its concentration in the central nervous system. We aimed to evaluate the DAT binding potential (DAT-BP) in a sample of healthy Brazilians through technetium-99 metastable TRODAT-1 single-photon emission computed tomography imaging.We selected 126 healthy individuals comprising 72 men and 54 women, aged 18 to 80 years.

Aerobic exercise does not change C-reactive protein levels in non-obese patients with obstructive sleep apnoea.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of a 2-month aerobic exercise training programme on C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in non-obese patients with obstructive sleep apnoea. Twenty non-obese and sedentary adult male volunteers underwent polysomnography (PSG) to assess their sleep parameters. After the PSG analysis, the subjects were divided into two groups (CTRL, control and OSA, obstructive sleep apnoea).

Spontaneously hypertensive rats: possible animal model of sleep-related movement disorders.

Clinical experience suggests that restless legs syndrome (RLS), periodic leg movement (PLM), and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may co-occur in both children and adults. The purpose of the present study was to provide an electrocorticography and electromyography evaluation of the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) to investigate the potential of this rat strain as an animal model of RLS-PLM. Initial work focused on evaluating sleep patterns and limb movements during sleep in SHR, having normotensive Wistar rats (NWR) as control, followed by comparison of two treatments (pharmacological-dopaminergic agonist treatment and nonpharmacological-chronic physical exercise), known to be clinically beneficial for sleep-related movement disorders.

Dopamine transporter shown by SPECT in patients with periodic leg movement after acute physical exercise.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate dopamine transporter (DAT) density in patients with periodic leg movement (PLM) shown by [(99mt)Tc]TRODAT-1 single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging and to determine the influence of acute physical exercise (maximal exercise test [MET]) on DAT densities.

Methods: Sixteen healthy male volunteers between 45 and 65 yr of age were selected to participate in the study. Each subject (eight subjects in the control group and eight subjects in the patients with PLM experimental group) underwent baseline polysomnography (PSG) to evaluate sleep patterns and PLM index values.

The effects of physical exercise on the serum iron profile in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the profile of serum iron in spontaneously hypertensive rats after an aerobic physical exercise. To accomplish this, 12 normotensive Wistar rats and 12 spontaneously hypertensive rats were distributed into "physical exercise" and "no physical exercise" groups. The animals in the physical exercise group underwent to an aerobic exercise for a total of 4 weeks.