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NEUROLOGY 1996;46:1055-1058
© 1996 American Academy of Neurology

Rate of motor response to oral levodopa and the clinical progression of Parkinson's disease

M. Contin, PharmD, R. Riva, MD, P. Martinelli, MD, E.J. Triggs, PharmD, F. Albani, PharmD and A. Baruzzi, MD

From the Institute of Neurology (Drs. Contin, Riva, Martinelli, Albani, and Baruzzi), University of Bologna, Italy; and Department of Pharmacy (Dr. Triggs), University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Supported in part by the ``Progetto Finalizzato Invecchiamento'' of the National Research Council of Italy, grant 952617.
Received June 22, 1995. Accepted in final form September 11, 1995.
Address correspondence and reprint request to Dr. Manuela Contin; Institute of Neurology; Via U. Foscolo 7, 40123 Bologna, Italy.

We investigated the relationship between the rate of motor response after a standard levodopa oral dose and drug dynamic variables and disease-related factors in 66 patients with Parkinson's disease. Time to maximum finger tapping effect was positively correlated with matched duration of levodopa dose response and fell from a median 120 minutes in patients at Hoehn and Yahr stage I and II to 60 minutes in stage IV patients (p less than 0.001). The accelerated response to levodopa dose with the advancement of disease was also apparent as an increased steepness of the tapping effect versus time curve, with a shift from a hyperbolic to a sigmoid profile. The rate of motor response to oral levodopa may reflect the rate of dopamine interaction with the postsynaptic receptors, providing an indirect objective index of presynaptic dopaminergic homeostasis.

NEUROLOGY 1996;46: 1055-1058.




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P. Cumming, F. Hermansen, A. Gjedde, M. Contin, R. Riva, P. Martinelli, P. Cortelli, F. Albani, and A. Baruzzi
Cerebral dopamine concentrations during levodopa treatment
Neurology, October 1, 1999; 53(6): 1374 - 1374.
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