ABNORMAL MOVEMENTS PROVOKED BY L-DOPA IN PARKINSONS-DISEASE - CORRELATION WITH PLASMA CONCENTRATIONS OF DOPA AND OF O-METHYL-DOPA

  • 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 133  (8-9) , 445-454
Abstract
This study involved 12 parkinsonian patients exposed to abnormal movements provoked by L-dopa: 6 patients with mid-dose dyskinesias and 6 others with onset and end of dose dyskinesias. Correlation between circumstances of onset of abnormal movements and plasma concentrations of dopa and O-methyl-dopa, after administration of a dose of L-dopa + IDC gave the following results: mid-dose dyskinesias appeared with the highest plasma concentrations of dopa, at the maximum therapeutic effect; onset and end of dose occurred during rise and fall in plasma levels of dopa, coinciding with the relief and the reappearance of parkinsonian symptoms respectively; no correlation was established between plasma concentrations of O-methyl-dopa and the duration of the period of clinical remission or of abnormal movements. These biochemical data and the neuropharmacological study of 1 patient with onset and end of dose abnormal movements suggest the predominant role of a disturbance in central dopaminergic mechanisms in the genesis of abnormal movements, whatever their nature.