Effect of tricyclic antidepressants on L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia and motor improvement in hemi-parkinsonian rats.

Although dopamine replacement therapy with L-DOPA in Parkinson's disease initially reduces motor symptoms, its chronic use often leads to the development of abnormal involuntary movements known as L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia. Increasingly, research has indicated that non-dopaminergic neurons gain function in the parkinsonian brain, taking up and converting L-DOPA to dopamine and releasing it as a "false neurotransmitter". Although less explored, promiscuity between monoamine transporters may also modulate these processes. Therefore, in order to examine the differential roles of monoamine transporters in L-DOPA's behavioral effects, three tricyclic antidepressants (TCA) with graded affinity for serotonin (SERT) vs. norepinephrine (NET) transporters were tested in hemi-parkinsonian rats: clomipramine (SERT>NET), amitriptyline (SERT=NET), and desipramine (SERT