Effects of rasagiline combined with levodopa and benserazide hydrochloride on motor function and homocysteine and IGF-1 levels in elderly patients with Parkinson's disease.

BACKGROUND: During the course of their illness, people with Parkinson's disease may see changes in their insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) and serum homocysteine (Hcy) indices. In this study, patients with intermediate to severe Parkinson's disease were examined for how Resagiline and levodopa and benserazide hydrochloride affected their motor performance, serum levels of homocysteine (Hcy), and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1). METHODS: From June 2020 to December 2021, a total of 100+ cases of Parkinson's patients over 60 years old in the middle and late stages of Parkinson's were seen in the outpatient and inpatient departments of the Third People's Hospital of Chengdu City and had a detailed observation record, and according to the inclusion criteria, the patients who met the criteria were randomly grouped into a clinical observation group and a control group. The subjects in the control group received only levodopa and benserazide hydrochloride treatment, while the observation group was treated with Resagiline in combination with the clinical control group. The total treatment observation period was 1 year for both groups, and the motor function and serum Hcy and IGF-1 indexes of both groups were compared after the end of treatment. RESULTS: We randomly and evenly grouped 64 patients who met the requirements of the inclusion criteria into a clinical observation group and a control group, each with 32 patients, from among 168 patients over 60 years of age with detailed observation records in the middle and late stages of Parkinson's. After the 1-year observation period, we found that the total effective rate after treatment in the clinical observation group (93.75%) and significantly higher than that in the control group (68.75%) (P < 0.05); after 1 year of treatment, the UPDRS score decreased in both groups, and the observation group was significantly lower than the control group (P < 0.05); after treatment, serum Hcy decreased and IGF-1 increased in both groups, and the observation group was higher than the control group mean values (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with Parkinson's disease who are in the middle and late stages of the disease, the administration of Resagiline combined with levodopa and benserazide hydrochloride can significantly lower the body's serum Hcy level, significantly raise IGF-1 levels, and significantly improve motor function in patients with Parkinson's disease. It can also have significant therapeutic effects.

[Clinical and genetic characteristics of children with dopa-responsive dystonia caused by tyrosine hydroxylase gene variations].

Objective: To explore the clinical and genetic characteristics of children with dopa-responsive dystonia (DRD) caused by tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) gene variations. Methods: Clinical data of 9 children with DRD caused by TH gene variations diagnosed in the Department of Children Rehabilitation, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2017 to August 2022 were retrospectively collected and analyzed, including the general conditions, clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, gene variations and follow-up data. Results: Of the 9 children with DRD caused by TH gene variations, 3 were males and 6 were females. The age at diagnosis was 12.0 (8.0, 15.0) months. The initial symptoms of the 8 severe patients were motor delay or degression. Clinical symptoms of the severe patients included motor delay (8 cases), truncal hypotonia (8 cases), limb muscle hypotonia (7 cases), hypokinesia (6 cases), decreased facial expression (4 cases), tremor (3 cases), limb dystonia (3 cases), diurnal fluctuation (2 cases), ptosis (2 cases), limb muscle hypertonia (1 case) and drooling (1 case). The initial symptom of the very severe patient was motor delay. Clinical symptoms of the very severe patient included motor delay, truncal hypotonia, oculogyric crises, status dystonicus, hypokinesia, decreased facial expression, and decreased sleep. Eleven TH gene variants were found, including 5 missense variants, 3 splice site variants, 2 nonsense variants, and 1 insertion variant, as well as 2 novel variants (c.941C>A (p.T314K), c.316_317insCGT (p.F106delinsSF)). Nine patients were followed up for 40 (29, 43) months, and no one was lost to follow-up. Seven of the 8 severe patients were treated by levodopa and benserazide hydrochloride tablets and 1 severe patient was treated by levodopa tablets. All the severe patients responded well to levodopa and benserazide hydrochloride tablets or levodopa tablets. Although the weight of the patients increased and the drug dosage was not increased, the curative effect remained stable and there was no obvious adverse reaction. One severe patient developed dyskinesia in the early stage of treatment with levodopa and benserazide hydrochloride tablets and it disappeared after oral administration of benzhexol hydrochloride tablets. Until the last follow-up, motor development of 7 severe patients returned to normal and 1 severe patient still had motor delay due to receiving levodopa and benserazide hydrochloride tablets for only 2 months. The very severe patient was extremely sensitive to levodopa and benserazide hydrochloride tablets and no improvement was observed in this patient. Conclusions: Most of the DRD caused by TH gene variations are severe form. The clinical manifestations are varied and easily misdiagnosed. Patients of the severe patients responded well to levodopa and benserazide hydrochloride tablets or levodopa tablets, and it takes a long time before full effects of treatment become established. Long-term effect is stable without increasing the drug dosage, and no obvious side effect is observed.

In Silico Studies Reveal Peramivir and Zanamivir as an Optimal Drug Treatment Even If H7N9 Avian Type Influenza Virus Acquires Further Resistance.

An epidemic of avian type H7N9 influenza virus, which took place in China in 2013, was enhanced by a naturally occurring R294K mutation resistant against Oseltamivir at the catalytic site of the neuraminidase. To cope with such drug-resistant neuraminidase mutations, we applied the molecular docking technique to evaluate the fitness of the available drugs such as Oseltamivir, Zanamivir, Peramivir, Laninamivir, L-Arginine and Benserazide hydrochloride concerning the N9 enzyme with single (R294K, R119K, R372K), double (R119_294K, R119_372K, R294_372K) and triple (R119_294_372K) mutations in the pocket. We found that the drugs Peramivir and Zanamivir score best amongst the studied compounds, demonstrating their high binding potential towards the pockets with the considered mutations. Despite the fact that mutations changed the shape of the pocket and reduced the binding strength for all drugs, Peramivir was the only drug that formed interactions with the key residues at positions 119, 294 and 372 in the pocket of the triple N9 mutant, while Zanamivir demonstrated the lowest RMSD value (0.7 Å) with respect to the reference structure.

The impact of treatment of periodic limb movements in sleep on blood pressure in patients with and without sleep apnea.

Improving sleep quality in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) by positive airway pressure therapy is associated with a decrease of blood pressure (BP). It remains elusive, whether treatment of sleep disturbances due to restless legs syndrome with symptomatic periodic limb movements in sleep (PLMS) affects BP as well. The present study provides first data on this issue. Retrospective study on patients undergoing polysomnography in a German University Hospital. Inclusion criteria were first diagnosis of restless legs syndrome with PLMS (PLM index ≥ 15/h and PLM arousal index ≥ 5/h) with subsequent initiation of levodopa/benserazide or dopamine agonists. Exclusion criterion was an initiation or change of preexisting positive airway pressure therapy between baseline and follow-up. BP and Epworth sleepiness scale were assessed at two consecutive polysomnographies. After screening of 953 PLMS data sets, 114 patients (mean age 62.1 ± 12.1 years) were included. 100 patients (87.7%) were started on levodopa/benserazide, 14 patients (12.2%) on dopamine agonists. Treatment was associated with significant reductions of PLM index (81.2 ± 65.0 vs. 39.8 ± 51.2, p < 0.001) and ESS (6 [interquartile range, IQR, 3-10.5] vs. 5 [IQR 3-10], p = 0.013). Systolic BP decreased from 132.9 ± 17.1 to 128.0 ± 15.8 mmHg (p = 0.006), whereas there was no significant change of diastolic BP (76.7 ± 10.9 vs. 75.1 ± 9.2 mmHg, p = 0.15) and heart rate (71.5 ± 11.9 vs. 71.3 ± 12.7, p = 0.84). The number of antihypertensive drugs remained unchanged with a median of 2 (IQR 1-3, p = 0.27). Dopaminergic treatment of PLMS is associated with an improvement of sleep quality and a decrease of systolic BP comparable to treatment OSA.

Autoimmune-mediated secondary-parkinsonism presented with micrographia and cognitive impairment.

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder while secondary-parkinsonism can be caused by infectious, inflammatory, traumatic, vascular, hereditary, paraneoplastic, or even induced by drug/metal poisoning. Here we report an uncommon subacute parkinsonism who presented with micrographia and mild cognitive impairment. The CSF examination showed inflammatory profile and positive anti-NMDAR antibody. The patient showed no improvement with levodopa/benserazide administration but satisfactory response to immunotherapy with methylprednisolone. This case indicated that autoimmune etiology should also be considered in parkinsonism to exclude a treatable condition.

Benserazide as a potential novel fetal hemoglobin inducer: an observational study in non-carriers of hemoglobin disorders.

Induction of fetal hemoglobin production with hydroxyurea is an effective strategy in sickle cell disease and beta thalassemias, but up to 20% of patients do not respond to or cannot tolerate it. Benserazide is used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease and was noticed to induce gamma globin in preclinical models. We hypothesized that chronic treatment with benserazide-containing medication may be associated with increase in HbF production and in circulating F-cells. Blood samples were collected from 50 subjects including 35 patients on benserazide for Parkinson's disease, 10 healthy controls, and 5 patients with sickle cell anemia as positive controls for high fetal hemoglobin. We found a strong correlation between HbF and circulating F-cells in the entire population, but we found no significant increase in HbF and F-cell percentage in patients taking benserazide up to 700 mg daily. No hematologic abnormalities attributable to benserazide use after up to 22 years were detected. Our data support long-term safety and tolerability of benserazide at doses ten times higher than used in preclinical models to induce fetal hemoglobin. Further clinical trials enrolling patients with sickle cell disease and thalassemia are warranted to provide insight into its efficacy to treat those populations.

Effects of dopamine on reinforcement learning in Parkinson's disease depend on motor phenotype.

Parkinson's disease is clinically defined by bradykinesia, along with rigidity and tremor. However, the severity of these motor signs is greatly variable between individuals, particularly the presence or absence of tremor. This variability in tremor relates to variation in cognitive/motivational impairment, as well as the spatial distribution of neurodegeneration in the midbrain and dopamine depletion in the striatum. Here we ask whether interindividual heterogeneity in tremor symptoms could account for the puzzlingly large variability in the effects of dopaminergic medication on reinforcement learning, a fundamental cognitive function known to rely on dopamine. Given that tremor-dominant and non-tremor Parkinson's disease patients have different dopaminergic phenotypes, we hypothesized that effects of dopaminergic medication on reinforcement learning differ between tremor-dominant and non-tremor patients. Forty-three tremor-dominant and 20 non-tremor patients with Parkinson's disease were recruited to be tested both OFF and ON dopaminergic medication (200/50 mg levodopa-benserazide), while 22 age-matched control subjects were recruited to be tested twice OFF medication. Participants performed a reinforcement learning task designed to dissociate effects on learning rate from effects on motivational choice (i.e. the tendency to 'Go/NoGo' in the face of reward/threat of punishment). In non-tremor patients, dopaminergic medication improved reward-based choice, replicating previous studies. In contrast, in tremor-dominant patients, dopaminergic medication improved learning from punishment. Formal modelling showed divergent computational effects of dopaminergic medication as a function of Parkinson's disease motor phenotype, with a modulation of motivational choice bias and learning rate in non-tremor and tremor patients, respectively. This finding establishes a novel cognitive/motivational difference between tremor and non-tremor Parkinson's disease patients, and highlights the importance of considering motor phenotype in future work.

Dopa-responsive dystonia caused by tyrosine hydroxylase deficiency: Three cases report and literature review.

RATIONAL: Tyrosine hydroxylase deficiency (THD) is a rare cause of dopa-responsive dystonia (DRD). Although the symptoms of DRD may be improved by treatment with L-dopa, the low morbidity of THD can lead to its misdiagnosis. Thus, it is important for physicians to be aware of THD as a cause of DRD. PATIENT CONCERNS: We report 3 cases of THD. A 5-year-old boy with DRD was diagnosed with THD and found to have compound heterozygous mutations of the TH gene, including TH:c.647G>C from his mother and TH:c.646G>A from his father. Two female siblings also were found to have TH:c.698G>A from their mother and TH:c.710T>C from their father. The younger daughter, at age 3.5 years, was diagnosed with DRD caused by THD, and then the diagnosis of the older daughter, at age 11 years, was changed from cerebral palsy to DRD caused by THD. DIAGNOSIS: The diagnosis of dopa-responsive dystonia caused by tyrosine hydroxylase deficiency was determined by whole exome sequencing. INTERVENTION: They all treated with low dose levodopa and benserazide tablets. OUTCOMES: The boy had a very good therapeutic effect, and he could walk very well by the second day of treatment. The younger sister of the siblings had a partial therapeutic effect, but her elder sister was only little effective with a milder improvement of dystonia and improvement of myodynamia. CONCLUSION: The characteristics of THD are heterogeneous, and its phenotypes are classified as type A or type B according to increasing severity. Generally, L-dopa has a good therapeutic effect in cases with type A phenotypes. We reviewed 87 cases of reported in the literature and found that c.698G>A and c.707T>C are hot spot mutations. Changes on cerebral magnetic resonance imaging were nonspecific. Analysis of neurotransmitter levels in cerebrospinal fluid is an invasive means of achieving a biochemical diagnosis.

Small dose of L-dopa/Benserazide hydrochloride improved sepsis-induced neuroinflammation and long-term cognitive dysfunction in sepsis mice.

The prevention and treatment of sepsis associated encephalopathy (SAE) remains challenging in clinic. Besides the anti-infection treatments and goal-directed supportive treatments, no specific method is reported for the prevention and treatment of SAE. This study tried to investigate the effects and underlying mechanisms of small dose of L-dopa/Benserazide hydrochloride (L-DA) on SAE. We found that L-DA administration (i.p.) at early stage of sepsis, but not at late stage, improved learning and memory of sepsis surviving mice in Cecal ligation and perforation (CLP) model. Corresponding to the improvement of learning and memory in CLP model, L-DA administration limited neuroinflammation, improved neuroplasticity, reversed sepsis-induced decrease of hippocampal dopamine level, but had no obvious effects on the survival and body weight recovery. Further studies showed that specific inhibitors of dopamine D1 or D2 receptors both partly reduced the protective effect of L-DA on the learning and memory of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) treated mice. D1 receptor specific inhibitor significantly blocked the anti-neuroinflammation effects of L-DA in LPS treated mice, but D2 receptor inhibitor did not. All these suggest that L-DA administration could prevent and treat SAE via dopamine D1 and D2 receptors. Dopamine D1 receptor is a potential target of anti-neuroinflammation.

Mental retardation in Down syndrome: Two ways to treat.

Mental retardation is a progressive condition in Down syndrome: intelligence starts to decline linearly within the first year. This phenomenon could be related to the overproduction of a toxic compound, hydrogen sulfide. Indeed, a gene located on chromosome 21 controls the production of cystathionine-ß-synthase, an enzyme involved in hydrogen sulfide production in the central nervous system. It has recently been demonstrated that excess cystathionine-ß-synthase levels are needed and sufficient to induce cognitive phenotypes in mouse models of Down syndrome. Thus, two therapeutic options might be used in Down syndrome patients: the use of a specific cystathionine ß-synthase inhibitor and the use of an effective antidote to reduce hydrogen sulfide toxicity. Prenatal treatment of Down syndrome fetuses is also suggested.

The nature of postural tremor in Parkinson disease.

OBJECTIVE: To disentangle the different forms of postural tremors in Parkinson disease (PD). METHODS: In this combined observational and intervention study, we measured resting and postural tremor characteristics in 73 patients with tremulous PD by using EMG of forearm muscles. Patients were measured both "off" medication (overnight withdrawal) and after dispersible levodopa-benserazide 200/50 mg. We performed an automated 2-step cluster analysis on 3 postural tremor characteristics: the frequency difference with resting tremor, the degree of tremor suppression after posturing, and the dopamine response. RESULTS: The cluster analysis revealed 2 distinct postural tremor phenotypes: 81% had re-emergent tremor (amplitude suppression, frequency difference with resting tremor 0.4 Hz, clear dopamine response) and 19% had pure postural tremor (no amplitude suppression, frequency difference with resting tremor 3.5 Hz, no dopamine response). This finding was manually validated (accuracy of 93%). Pure postural tremor was not associated with clinical signs of essential tremor or dystonia, and it was not influenced by weighing. CONCLUSION: There are 2 distinct postural tremor phenotypes in PD, which have a different pathophysiology and require different treatment. Re-emergent tremor is a continuation of resting tremor during stable posturing, and it has a dopaminergic basis. Pure postural tremor is a less common type of tremor that is inherent to PD, but has a largely nondopaminergic basis.

Allergy to Carbidopa.

BACKGROUND: D-Decarboxylase inhibitors, such as carbidopa or benserazide, have been used as adjunct therapy in Parkinson disease shortly after levodopa synthesis in the 1960s. These compounds increase intracerebral drug concentration and decrease adverse effects by blocking peripheral conversion to dopamine. Skin rash as part of an allergic reaction was previously described in subjects who were using levodopa in combination with carbidopa or benserazide; however, etiology was never clear. Allergic reactions to carbidopa have not previously been reported. METHODS: We report a case of a 77-year-old woman with a diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson disease, who developed autonomic and dermatological signs: conjunctival injection, rhinorrhea, excessive sweating, hypertension, and pruritic generalized rash, among others, immediately after carbidopa/levodopa administration regardless of the manufacturer. Treatment with dexamethasone combined with chloropyramine hydrochloride resulted in complete resolution of the hypersensitivity reaction each time it presented. The autonomic and dermatological manifestations did not reappear after treatment was replaced with benserazide/levodopa. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of an allergic reaction specific to carbidopa. Our case highlights the importance of identifying the source of a hypersensitivity drug response, whether it is caused by the active component or by the excipients.

Effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with Madopar for Parkinson's disease: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with Madopar for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD), compared to the use of Madopar alone. METHODS: A systematic search was carried out for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture and Madopar for the treatment of PD published between April 1995 and April 2015. The primary outcome was total effectiveness rate and secondary outcomes included Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) scores. Data were pooled and analysed with RevMan 5.3. Results were expressed as relative ratio (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CIs). RESULTS: Finally, 11 RCTs with 831 subjects were included. Meta-analyses showed that acupuncture combined with Madopar for the treatment of PD can significantly improve the clinical effectiveness compared with Madopar alone (RR=1.28, 95% CI 1.18 to 1.38, P<0.001). It was also found that acupuncture combined with Madopar significantly improved the UPDRS II (SMD=-1.00, 95% CI -1.71 to -0.29, P=0.006) and UPDRS I-IV total summed scores (SMD=-1.15, 95% CI -1.63 to -0.67, P<0.001) but not UPDRS I (SMD=-0.37, 95% CI -0.77 to 0.02, P=0.06), UPDRS III (SMD=-0.93, 95% CI -2.28 to 0.41, P=0.17) or UPDRS IV (SMD=-0.78, 95% CI -2.24 to 0.68, P=0.30) scores. Accordingly, acupuncture combined with Madopar appeared to have a positive effect on activities of daily life and the general condition of patients with PD, but was not better than Madopar alone for the treatment of mental activity, behaviour, mood and motor disability. In the safety evaluation, it was found that acupuncture combined with Madopar was associated with significantly fewer adverse effects including gastrointestinal reactions (RR=0.38, 95% CI 0.23 to 0.65, P<0.001), on-off phenomena (RR=0.27, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.66, P=0.004) and mental disorders (RR=0.24, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.92, P=0.04) but did not significantly reduce dyskinesia (RR=0.64, 95% CI 0.35 to 1.16, P=0.14). CONCLUSION: Acupuncture combined with Madopar appears, to some extent, to improve clinical effectiveness and safety in the treatment of PD, compared with Madopar alone. This conclusion must be considered cautiously, given the quality of most of the studies included was low. Therefore, more high-quality, multicentre, prospective, RCTs with large sample sizes are needed to further clarify the effect of acupuncture combined with Madopar for PD.

Mucuna pruriens in Parkinson disease: A double-blind, randomized, controlled, crossover study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether Mucuna pruriens (MP), a levodopa-containing leguminous plant growing in all tropical areas worldwide, may be used as alternative source of levodopa for indigent individuals with Parkinson disease (PD) who cannot afford long-term therapy with marketed levodopa preparations. METHODS: We investigated efficacy and safety of single-dose intake of MP powder from roasted seeds obtained without any pharmacologic processing. Eighteen patients with advanced PD received the following treatments, whose sequence was randomized: (1) dispersible levodopa at 3.5 mg/kg combined with the dopa-decarboxylase inhibitor benserazide (LD+DDCI; the reference treatment); (2) high-dose MP (MP-Hd; 17.5 mg/kg); (3) low-dose MP (MP-Ld; 12.5 mg/kg); (4) pharmaceutical preparation of LD without DDCI (LD-DDCI; 17.5 mg/kg); (5) MP plus benserazide (MP+DDCI; 3.5 mg/kg); (6) placebo. Efficacy outcomes were the change in motor response at 90 and 180 minutes and the duration of on state. Safety measures included any adverse event (AE), changes in blood pressure and heart rate, and the severity of dyskinesias. RESULTS: When compared to LD+DDCI, MP-Ld showed similar motor response with fewer dyskinesias and AEs, while MP-Hd induced greater motor improvement at 90 and 180 minutes, longer ON duration, and fewer dyskinesias. MP-Hd induced less AEs than LD+DDCI and LD-DDCI. No differences in cardiovascular response were recorded. CONCLUSION: Single-dose MP intake met all noninferiority efficacy and safety outcome measures in comparison to dispersible levodopa/benserazide. Clinical effects of high-dose MP were similar to levodopa alone at the same dose, with a more favorable tolerability profile. CLINICALTRIALSGOV IDENTIFIER: NCT02680977.

Degeneration of the corticofugal tract from the secondary motor area in a Parkinson's disease patient with limb-kinetic apraxia: A case report.

RATIONALE: In this case report, we describe a Parkinson's disease (PD) patient with limb-kinetic apraxia (LKA) in whom degeneration of the corticofugal tract (CFT) from the supplementary motor area (SMA) was observed in diffusion tensor tractography (DTT). PATIENT CONCERNS: A 63-year-old woman presented with a loss of dexterity in both upper extremities, which indicated LKA, and typical PD-related symptoms, including a gait disturbance with a short step, resting tremor in both upper extremities, and rigidity, and these symptoms had been present for 2 years. The F-florinated-N-3-fluoropropyl-2-ß-carboxymethoxy-3-ß-(4-lodophenyl) nortropane positron emission tomography scanning findings were consistent with PD. Based on the clinical symptoms and imaging findings, we diagnosed the patient with PD. In a coin-rotation test that was used to evaluate the severity of the LKA, the patient's results significantly decreased compared to the results of the normal controls. DIAGNOSES: The DTT showed that the CFTs from the SMAs in both hemispheres were partially torn and thinned. The fractional anisotropy values and CFT volumes in both SMAs were >2 standard deviations lower than those of the normal controls. INTERVENTIONS: The patient was treated with an initial dose of 150/37.5 mg/day of levodopa/benserazide, and the dose was gradually increased to 400/100 mg/day. OUTCOMES: After treatment, although the bradykinesia, rigidity, and resting tremor of the patient significantly decreased, the dexterity of the patient's hands did not improve. LESSONS: These observations indicated degeneration of the CFTs from the SMAs in both hemispheres in the patient. This degeneration might have, at least in part, contributed to the patient's LKA. The results of this study suggest that CFT degeneration could be one of the pathological mechanisms underlying LKA in patients with PD.

Effect of l-DOPA on local field potential relationship between the pedunculopontine nucleus and primary motor cortex in a rat model of Parkinson's disease.

Levodopa (l-DOPA) has been proved to reverse the pathologic neuron activities in many brain regions related to Parkinson's disease (PD). But little is known about the effect of l-DOPA on the altered electrophysiological coherent activities between pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) and motor cortex. To investigate this, local field potentials (LFPs) of PPN and primary motor cortex (M1) were recorded simultaneously in control, 6-hydroxydopamine lesioned and lesioned rats with l-DOPA chronic treatment. The results revealed that in resting state, chronic l-DOPA treatment could correct the suppressed power of LFPs in PPN and M1 in low-frequency band (1-7Hz) and the enhanced power in high-frequency band (7-70Hz in PPN and 12-70Hz in M1) of lesioned rats. In locomotor state, l-DOPA treatment could correct the alterations in most of frequency bands except the δ band in PPN and α band in M1. Moreover, l-DOPA could also reverse the altered coherent relationships caused by dopamine depletion in resting state between PPN and M1 in ß band. And in locomotor state, l-DOPA had therapeutic effect on the alterations in δ and ß bands but not in the α band. These findings provide evidence that l-DOPA can reverse the altered LFP activities in PPN and M1 and their relationships in a rat model of PD, which contributes to better understanding the electrophysiological mechanisms of the pathophysiology and therapy of PD.

The effect of levodopa benserazide hydrochloride on homocysteinemia levels in patients with Parkinson's disease and treatment of hyperhomocysteinemia.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) resulted from treatment in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and to evaluate the therapeutic outcome of HHcy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Ninety-three newly diagnosed PD patients were divided into Madopar group (treated with Madopar) and non-Madopar group (not treated with Madopar). Plasma Hcy levels were measured. Five months later, 67 patients presenting with HHcy were randomly divided into treatment group (n = 34) (receiving methylcobalamin 500 µg, tid, and folic acid 50 mg, tid, orally) and control group (n = 33).  Madopar dosage was maintained in both groups. MRI examination was performed to detect cerebral ischemia and patients were evaluated by Webster's rating scale. Plasma Hcy levels were measured at 3-month follow-up. Webster's scores and MRI were performed at 6-month follow-up. RESULTS: At the initial visit, Hcy levels of patients of Madopar group were significantly higher than those of non-Madopar group (18.52 ± 6.48 µmol/L) vs. (15.78 ± 3.42), p < 0.05]. At 5-month follow-up, patients of the non-Madopar group presented significantly increased Hcy levels (18.97 ± 7.42 µmol/L) compare with pre-treatment Hcy levels (p < 0.05), whereas Hcy levels were slightly increased in patients of Madopar group (20.61 ± 7.87 µmol/L, p > 0.05). In the treatment group, serum Hcy levels were significantly decreased after 3-month treatment with methylcobalamin and folic acid (p < 0.01). However, serum Hcy levels were not significantly changed in patients of the control group. In addition, in the treatment group, no patient presented ischemic stroke with clinical symptoms and four patients were confirmed with new cerebral ischemic and lacunar lesions by MRI examination. However, in the control group, two ischemic strokes with clinical symptoms and 11 new cerebral ischemic and lacunar lesions were detected. Significant differences were observed between two groups (p < 0.05). Furthermore, post-treatment modified Webster scores were significantly decreased than pre-treatment scores for both groups. However, no significant differences were found between groups (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Oral administration of Levodopa in the treatment of PD can cause HHcy, which can result in increased occurrence of ischemic stroke. Supplementation of methylcobalamin and folic acid can effectively reduce Hcy level and thereby prevent the occurrence of ischemic stroke.