Pathophysiology and therapy of L-Dopa-induced dyskinesia

• Published in: Revue neurologique Vol. 159; no. 12; p. 1125
• Main Authors: Hadj Tahar, A, Bézard, E, Grondin, R, Gross, C E, Bédard, P J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: French
• Published: France 01-12-2003
• Subjects: Animals; Basal Ganglia - anatomy & histology; Basal Ganglia - physiology; Disease Models, Animal; Dopamine Agents - adverse effects; Dyskinesia, Drug-Induced - drug therapy; Dyskinesia, Drug-Induced - physiopathology; Dyskinesia, Drug-Induced - prevention & control; Humans; Levodopa - adverse effects; Receptors, Adrenergic - drug effects; Receptors, Adrenergic - physiology; Receptors, Dopamine - drug effects; Receptors, Dopamine - physiology; Receptors, Glutamate - drug effects; Receptors, Glutamate - physiology; Receptors, Opioid - drug effects; Receptors, Opioid - physiology; Receptors, Purinergic P1 - drug effects; Receptors, Purinergic P1 - physiology
• ISSN: 0035-3787

Involuntary movements, or dyskinesias, represent a debilitating complication of levodopa therapy for Parkinson's disease. Dyskinesia is, ultimately, experienced by the vast majority of the patients. Despite the importance of this problem, little was known about the cause of dyskinesia, a situation that has dramatically evolved in the last few years. The present review presents: 1) the current understanding of dyskinesia pathophysiology and 2) the therapeutic modalities, mainly non-dopaminergic, available or in development. We here show that the questions raised by the dyskinesia may have a clinically-driven pharmacological answer: the symptomatic treatment of dyskinesia, the prevention of the priming and the de-priming of the neural networks.