Objective: To clinically characterize the temporal relationship between dyskinesia and the antiparkinsonian response when dyskinesia first emerges during long-term levodopa therapy and to determine if it is consistent with the hypothesized mechanism by which dyskinesia develops.Methods: Dyskinesia and the antiparkinsonian response to levodopa during 2-hour levodopa infusions were monitored at intervals through the first 4 years of long-term levodopa therapy in 20 subjects with idiopathic Parkinson disease (PD) and previously untreated with levodopa. The onset and offset of the antiparkinsonian response and dyskinesia were compared when dyskinesia first appeared during the 4 years. The findings were compared to 20 subjects with PD on longterm levodopa with dyskinesia and motor fluctuations.
Results:The onset and offset of the antiparkinsonian response and dyskinesia generally coincided when dyskinesia first appeared during the 4 years and did not suggest any temporal dissociation of the 2 responses. Further, the latency to the onsets of dyskinesia and the antiparkinsonian response tended to shorten during long-term levodopa therapy, suggesting that both responses were sensitized by long-term levodopa.
Conclusions:The similar onsets and offsets of the antiparkinsonian response and dyskinesia when dyskinesia first appears are not consistent with the postulated progressive decrease in threshold for dyskinesia during long-term levodopa therapy. Other mechanisms for the development of dyskinesia need to be considered. Neurology Levodopa-induced dyskinesia is postulated to result from repeated pulsatile dopaminergic stimulation which progressively lowers the threshold for dyskinesia by sensitization.1 At the beginning of levodopa therapy, the threshold for dyskinesia is much higher than the peak plasma levodopa concentrations. Conversely, the threshold for the antiparkinsonian response is envisioned to be lower than that for dyskinesia. The hypothesized different thresholds allow dissociation of the antiparkinsonian response and dyskinesia. Continued levodopa therapy lowers the threshold for dyskinesia and dyskinesia occurs briefly at peak concentrations. Eventually, similar concentrations produce dyskinesia and the antiparkinsonian response, making the responses inseparable ( figure 1A). This hypothesis assumes 1) the antiparkinsonian response and dyskinesia have distinctly different dose responses and 2) they are altered differently during long-term levodopa therapy.Evidence for this hypothesized scenario is from temporal extremes. Initial levodopa therapy rarely produces dyskinesia, consistent with a high threshold for dyskinesia.2,3 After years of levodopa therapy, dyskinesia and the antiparkinsonian response occur together, 2,3 e-Pub ahead of print on March 10, 2010, at www.neurology.org.