BACKGROUND Previous studies have demonstrated a higher prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) compared to controls. H. pylori infection affects levodopa absorption and its eradication significantly improves clinical response to levodopa. Here, we studied the prevalence of H. pylori infection and its eradication effects among our PD pati...

BACKGROUND The economic burden of Parkinson's disease (PD) is high, especially in patients experiencing motor fluctuations. Rasagiline has demonstrated efficacy against symptoms of PD in early and advanced stages of the disease. OBJECTIVE To assess the cost-utility of rasagiline and entacapone as adjunctive therapies to levodopa versus standard levodopa care in PD patients with motor fluctuat...

Dopamine systems mediate key aspects of reward learning. Parkinson's disease (PD) represents a valuable model to study reward mechanisms because both the disease process and the anti-Parkinson medications influence dopamine neurotransmission. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate whether the level of levodopa differently modulates learning from positive and negative feedback and its el...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Oral levodopa-carbidopa (LC-oral) treatment in advanced Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with motor complications due to large fluctuations in levodopa plasma concentrations. Levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) provides individualized continuous levodopa-carbidopa delivery through intrajejunal infusion. This study evaluated the pharmacokinetics, safety, and e...

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) often lose weight, but after subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS), they gain weight. We compared daily energy intake (DEI), resting energy expenditure (REE) and substrate oxidation rates (measured by indirect calorimetry) in nineteen STN-DBS-treated patients (Group S), thirteen others on pharmacologic treatment by levodopa (Group L) and eig...

Levodopa dose and severity of Parkinson's disease (PD) are recognized risk factors for levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) in humans. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the ability of these variables to predict severity of LID in a rat model of PD. Varied concentrations of 6-hydroxy-dopamine were injected into the midbrain to produce wide ranges of dopamine depletion in striatum. Th...

Levodopa (L-DOPA) is the naturally occurring precursor amino acid for dopamine and the main therapeutic agent for neurologic disorders due to dopamine depletion, such as Parkinson's disease. l-DOPA absorption in small intestine has been suggested to be mediated by the large neutral amino acids transport machinery, but the identity of the involved transporters is unknown. Clinically, coadministr...

in the present paper, the use of a novel carbon paste electrode modified by 7,8-dihydroxy-3,3,6-trimethyl-3,4-dihydrodibenzo[b,d]furan-1(2h)-one (dtd) and oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (ocnts) is described for determination of levodopa (ld), acetaminophen (ac) and tryptophan (trp) by a simple and rapid method. at first, the electrochemical behavior of dtd is studied, then, the mediated...

The standard pharmacological treatment for Parkinson's disease using the dopamine precursor levodopa is unfortunately limited by gradual development of disabling involuntary movements for which the underlying causes are poorly understood. Here we show that levodopa-induced dyskinesia in hemiparkinsonian rats is strongly associated with pronounced 80 Hz local field potential oscillations in the ...

rodegenerative disorder, in which alterations of the immune system are involved. Interleukin (IL)-15 stimulates cellular immune response and induces growth and differentiation of various immune cells. RANTES, promoting leukocyte infiltration to sites of inflammation, mediates the trafficking and homing of immune cells. To clarify the potential effect of levodopa on the immunological network of ...