Johansson ME, Cameron IGM, van der Kolk NM, et al. - In Parkinson disease patients, aerobic exercise not only stabilizes disease progression in the cortico-striatal sensorimotor network but also improves cognitive performance. This inference was drawn based on MRI, clinical, and behavioral results.

• In a single-center, double-blind randomized controlled trial (Park-in-Shape trial), a total of 130 Parkinson disease patients were included and randomized (1:1 ratio) to aerobic exercise (stationary home-trainer) or stretching (active control) interventions (duration: six months).

• Increased functional connectivity of the anterior putamen with the sensorimotor cortex relative to the posterior putamen and improved cognitive control were achieved with aerobic exercise but not with stretching.

• Aerobic exercise not only increased functional connectivity in the right frontoparietal network, proportionally to fitness improvements, but also decreased global brain atrophy.