Six Parkinsonian patients on long term levodopa therapy complained of short-lived deterioration of Parkinsonian symptoms immediately after levodopa intake. After withdrawal of the drug overnight, and following an oral challenge with levodopa/carbidopa (250/25) in all six cases, and with subcutaneous apomorphine (3 mg) in two, deterioration below base line levels of disability were observed whic...

BACKGROUND Long-term levodopa usage in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients is known to cause several motor complications. It may be related to several factors such as levodopa dosage, duration of treatment and severity of disease. OBJECTIVE To study the prevalence of levodopa motor complications and associated factors in Thai Parkinson's disease patients. MATERIAL AND METHOD The authors prosp...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel (carbidopa-levodopa enteral suspension) in advanced Parkinson's disease patients with troublesome dyskinesia. METHODS Post hoc analyses of patient data from a 12-week, randomized, double-blind study and a 54-week open-label study were performed. Efficacy was assessed in the subgroup of patients d...

Parkinson disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by 3 cardinal motor symptoms: resting tremor, rigidity, and bradykinesia. Since its introduction 40 years ago, levodopa has represented the gold standard for dopaminergic stimulation therapy in patients with PD. Levodopa is routinely combined with a dopa-decarboxylase inhibitor (DDCI) to prevent the conversion of levodopa into...

Thirty patients with Parkinson's disease were treated for four weeks with levodopa combined with an inhibitor of extracerebral dopa decarboxylase, L-alpha-methyldopahydrazine (MK 486). The therapeutic results were compared with the effects of treatment of a group of 40 patients with levodopa alone. Patients treated with the combined therapy improved more rapidly, had less nausea and vomiting, a...

The contribution of dopaminergic systems to cognitive defects in Parkinson's disease and the cognitive effects of levodopa remain controversial. The levodopa plasma levels and the neuropsychological performance of 10 parkinsonian patients with a stable motor response to the drug and 10 matched parkinsonian patients with a 'wearing-off' phenomenon were studied 12 h after levodopa was withdrawn (...

Parkinson’s disease, the second most common neurodegenerative disease in world, develops due to decreased dopamine levels basal ganglia. Levodopa, a precursor used treatment of can be as drug delivery system. This study presents an approach use 3D-printed levodopa-loaded neural tissue scaffolds produced with polylactic acid (PLA) and chitosan (CS) for disease. Surface morphology pore sizes were...

Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) inhibitors may be useful in the treatment of Parkinson's disease by improving the bioavailability of levodopa and by prolonging its effects. Entacapone (OR-611), a novel COMT inhibitor, which does not cross the blood brain barrier, was assessed in 12 patients with Parkinson's disease and motor fluctuations in a randomised, double-blind, cross-over, single dos...

OBJECTIVES To perform a systematic review of studies examining the diagnostic accuracy of acute challenge tests with levodopa and/or apomorphine in parkinsonian syndromes to assess their value in the diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease. METHODS A literature search including Medline and the Cochrane Library was performed for studies published in any language comparing acute levodopa an...

Maladaptive plasticity at corticostriatal synapses plays an important role in the development of levodopa-induced dyskinesia. Recently, it has been shown that synaptic plasticity is closely linked to morphologic changes of dendritic spines. To evaluate morphologic changes of dendritic spines of two types of striatal medium spiny neurons, which project to the internal segment of globus pallidus ...