Hypomyelination with atrophy of the basal ganglia and cerebellum (H-ABC) is a rare leukoencephalopathy presenting in the infantile period and characterized by diffuse cerebral hypomyelination, and atrophy of the basal ganglia and cerebellum. As patients with H-ABC lack remarkable laboratory findings, the diagnosis is based on brain magnetic resonance imaging findings alone. Only eight cases hav...

The present study was undertaken to investigate the possibility that central nervous system monoaminergic pathways may play a role in the control of gastric acid and gastrin secretion in man. Submaximal pentagastrin stimulated (0.25 micrograms/kg/h) gastric acid secretion, as well as basal gastrin concentrations were studied in two groups of subjects. The first group received oral administratio...

Motor fluctuations complicate the treatment of patients with Parkinson's disease receiving levodopa. Extended-release carbidopa-levodopa has a pharmacokinetic profile that provides a more continuous levodopa serum concentration. Patients taking this formulation can expect longer duration of action and fewer doses per day, similar clinical improvement when compared to other levodopa formulations...

The R2 response on the blink reflex was found to be abnormal in seven out of 17 Huntington's disease descendants. Such abnormalities were present in four untreated subjects and in three further subjects after administration of a single oral dose of levodopa-carbidopa. An increase in latency and differential latency (four cases), or in a single one of these parameters (three cases) were the abno...

OBJECTIVE To report the detection of secondary neurotransmitter abnormalities in a group of SPG11 patients and describe treatment with l-dopa/carbidopa and sapropterin. DESIGN Case reports. SETTING National Institutes of Health in the Undiagnosed Disease Program; Children's National Medical Center in the Myelin Disorders Bioregistry Program. PATIENTS Four SPG11 patients with a clinical pi...

Three chemometric methods; partial least squares regression (PLS), principal component regression (PCR) and least-squares support vector machines (LS-SVM) were applied for simultaneous determination of carbidopa and levodopa in synthetic mixtures and real samples. The simultaneous determination of these drugs is a difficult problem due to spectral interferences. The proposed methods were used f...

149 previously untreated patients with Parkinson's disease were recruited over a three year period and randomly allocated to either low dose levodopa-carbidopa (< or = 600/150 mg/day) or low dose bromocriptine (< or = 30 mg/day). A five year follow up is reported on the 126 patients who completed the dose titration and who have not developed features of atypical Parkinsonism. Levodopa-carbidopa...

The only indication for carbidopa and benserazide is the management of L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-dopa)-induced nausea. Both drugs irreversibly bind to and permanently deactivate pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP), the active form of vitamin B6, and PLP-dependent enzymes. PLP is required for the function of over 300 enzymes and proteins. Virtually every major system in the body is impacted direc...

Patients with chronic idiopathic Parkinson's disease are at a high risk for fractures, particularly of the hip. The causes may be multifactorial, including poor balance and other forms of neurological dysfunction. Osteopenia and osteoporosis leading to decreased bone mass are common in these patients. We report a case of a male patient with a long-standing history of Parkinson's disease on chro...

This review will illustrate the process of moving from an idea through preclinical research and Galenic developments into clinical investigations and finally to approval by regulatory agencies within the European Union. The two new treatment strategies described, levodopa/carbidopa intestinal gel and levodopa/carbidopa microtablets, for advanced Parkinson's disease, have been developed in colla...