title: Exercise Effects on Early Vocal Ultrasonic Communication Dysfunction in a PINK1 Knockout Model of Parkinson's Disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Parkinson's disease (PD) is a complex neurodegenerative disease with vocal communication deficits that manifest early, progress, and are largely resistant to medical interventions; however, they do respond to exercise-based speech and voice therapies.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study how exercise-based vocal treatment can affect the progression of communication deficits related to PD, we studied ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in rats with homozygous knockout (-/-) of PINK1, a gene mutation known to cause PD, under the manipulation of a behavioral vocal exercise paradigm that allows us to precisely control dose and timing of exercise in the prodromal (prior to diagnosis) stages.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We show that intensive vocal-training rescues frequency range and intensity deficits as well as leads to an increase in call complexity and duration of calls compared to sham-training; however, over time this training regime loses significant effect as the disease progresses. We also show effects of frequent handling and conspecific (male-female) interaction in the sham-training group as they demonstrated significantly higher call rate, intensity, frequency range, and call complexity compared to rats without any form of training and consequently less handling/interaction. Further, we confirm that this model exhibits progressive gross motor deficits that indicate neurodegeneration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that the evolving nature of vocal communication deficits requires an adjustment of therapy targets and more intensive training over the course of this progressive disease and demonstrates the importance of frequent social experiences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Division of Otolaryngology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Cynthia A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Kelm-Nelson
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Training Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Katie M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Division of Otolaryngology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.|Neuroscience Training Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.|Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Michelle R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Ciucci
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018450:Disease Progression; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D005260:Female; D055786:Gene Knockout Techniques; D008297:Male; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000379:methods*; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D012919:Social Behavior; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D000069453:Ultrasonic Waves; D014828:Vocalization, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D000099202:PTEN-Induced Putative Kinase
chemical_list: D011494:Protein Kinases; D000099202:PTEN-Induced Putative Kinase
keywords: PINK1; Parkinson’s disease; communication; cranial sensorimotor; exercise; rat; ultrasonic vocalization