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Using Liquid Levodopa in the Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease

A Practical Guide

  • Review Article
  • Drug Therapy
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Summary

Many patients with Parkinson’s disease develop both involuntary movements from, and a critical dependency on, levodopa therapy as their disease progresses. This results in a narrow therapeutic window in which blood concentrations of levodopa can achieve optimal control of parkinsonian symptoms. The short half-life of levodopa, combined with loss of intraneuronal storage capacity for levodopa as the disease progresses, results in patients experiencing marked motor fluctuations complicated by medication-induced dyskinesias. When given in tablet form, the dosage of levodopa (which is usually combined with a decarboxylase inhibitor such as carbidopa or benserazide) often cannot be titrated adequately, and the drug may become unpredictable in its ability to relieve parkinsonian symptoms. A solution of levodopa and carbidopa, stabilised using ascorbic acid, offers a means of delivering a titrated amount of levodopa at regular intervals. Solutions pass through the stomach faster than solids, affording more rapid symptomatic relief in some patients with Parkinson’s disease.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. St Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, Barrow Neurological Institute, 222 West Thomas, Suite 401, Phoenix, Arizona, 85013, USA

    Matthias C. Kurth

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  1. Matthias C. Kurth
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Correspondence to Matthias C. Kurth.

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Kurth, M.C. Using Liquid Levodopa in the Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease. Drugs & Aging 10, 332–340 (1997). https://doi.org/10.2165/00002512-199710050-00002

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2165/00002512-199710050-00002

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