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Parkinson's Disease

Current Treatments for Parkinson's Disease

Summary & Participants

Medications for Parkinson's disease can be effective, but they sometimes wear off too soon. Discover what's being done to allow patients to get longer responses to their treatment.

Medically Reviewed On: June 12, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Muhammed Ali has it. Actor Michael J. Fox has it. Like one million other Americans, they both suffer from Parkinson disease, a life long chronic disease that affects the motor system, the part of the brain that controls movement.

WILLIAM KOLLER, MD: We know that a small group of cells die in a very small part of the brain. It's called the substantia nigra, a black substance, and when those cells die, there's loss of a chemical, what we call a neurotransmitter, and that is dopamine, so the chemical basis of Parkinson is loss of this dopamine chemical in the brain. This has to do with our movements and how we coordinate our movements. So when that doesn't work, then we end up with slowness, stiffness and tremor.

ANNOUNCER: There are a variety of ways that science has tried to manage Parkinson disease.

WILLIAM KOLLER, MD: Charcot, a famous neurologist in France brought the first class of drugs, which are sometimes used even today, and they're called anticholinergics. This class of drugs has a lot of side effects, mental side effects, and are infrequently used.

ANNOUNCER: Other drugs have been used to slow or stop the enzyme activity that causes the breakdown of dopamine.

C. WARREN OLANOW, MD: The initial thinking was that we would block the metabolism of dopamine, make more dopamine available because we were blocking its metabolism.

ANNOUNCER: Researchers discovered a very effective way of increasing the supply of dopamine.

C. WARREN OLANOW, MD: Dopamine itself doesn't get into the brain, so they came up with the idea of using levodopa. Levodopa does get into the brain, and it is converted in the brain to dopamine and creates astonishing benefits in many patients.

ANNOUNCER: However early attempts with levodopa produced difficult side effects, such as nausea and vomiting. Another enzyme in the body was breaking down the levodopa, causing these side effects. Researchers solved the problem by slowing the action of the enzyme.

C. WARREN OLANOW, MD: To try and prevent that from occurring, levodopa is typically administered with an agent that blocks its conversion to dopamine in the blood. The agent that we use mostly in the United States is called carbidopa, and typically levodopa and carbidopa are administered together.

ANNOUNCER: During treatment, patient's may get the feeling that the medication is wearing off and their symptoms begin to return.

WILLIAM KOLLER, MD: Wearing off is a response to medicine where the duration of response of an individual dose gets less over time. And the terminology we use is like a light switch. When you turn it on, you're well controlled by the drug and you're free of symptoms. When you're in the off state, all the symptoms come back, the tremor, the slowness, the stiffness, the difficultly walking.

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