Does levodopa accelerate the pathologic process in Parkinson disease brain?

Abstract

Background: Several in vitro studies have suggested levodopa (L-dopa) to be toxic to dopaminergic neurons and that it can modulate the aggregation process of α-synuclein. We investigated the relationship between cumulative lifetime dose of L-dopa and nigral neuronal count and Lewy body (LB) pathology in Parkinson disease (PD). Methods: Density of pigmented neurons was measured unilaterally in a single section of substantia nigra (SN) with delineation of the dorsal and ventral tiers in 96 cases of PD with welldocumented clinical records relating to antiparkinsonian drug treatment. Cortical and nigral LB densities were determined using a morphometric approach. Results: Mean lifetime dose of L-dopa correlated significantly (p < 0.001) with duration of PD in the entire study population (n = 96) and it was not possible to disentangle their individual effect. This was not the case in a subgroup analysis of younger onset patients with a longer duration of PD (n = 40) who showed no significant correlation between L-dopa and total SN neuronal density (p = 0.07), after adjustment for duration of illness. There was, however, a lower neuronal density in the ventral (p= 0.02) but not in the dorsal (p = 0.27) tier detected with the cumulative dose of L-dopa. We found no difference in L-dopa dose between Braak PD stages (p = 0.58). Furthermore, the subgroup analysis showed no relationship of L-dopa dose to either cortical (p = 0.47) or nigral (p = 0.48) LB density. Conclusion: Chronic use of L-dopa in PD does not enhance progression of PD pathology as far as can be determined by our observations with SN neuronal counts and LB densities. © 2011 by AAN Enterprises, Inc.