title: The effect of catecholamine precursor L-dopa on sleep bruxism: a controlled clinical trial.
abstract: The putative role of the dopaminergic system in sleep bruxism (SB) was studied in a double-blind clinical trial by using low doses of short-term L-dopa in combination with benserazide. We recorded 10 patients with SB in our sleep laboratory for 3 consecutive nights. The first night was for habituation to the laboratory environment. During the second and the third nights, the patients received two doses of either L-dopa or a placebo in a crossover fashion: the first dose 1 h before bedtime and the second, 4 h after the first one. The order of administration was reversed in half the patients. The efficacy of L-dopa was analyzed by using multilevel models. L-Dopa resulted in a significant decrease in the average number of bruxism episodes per hour of sleep, as well as in a significant reduction in the average value of the root-mean-square (RMS) electromyography (EMG) level per bruxism burst. This indicates that L-dopa exerts an attenuating effect on SB. In addition, L-dopa caused a reduction in the variance in RMS values, which suggests that L-dopa normalizes the EMG activity patterns associated with SB.
authors.affiliation: Département de Physiologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lobbezoo
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Lavigne
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tanguay
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Montplaisir
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001545:Benserazide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002012:Bruxism / Q000188:drug therapy*; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D015259:Dopamine Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004338:Drug Combinations; D004576:Electromyography / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D017286:Polysomnography; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D015259:Dopamine Agents; D004338:Drug Combinations; D007980:Levodopa; D001545:Benserazide