title: Body weight influences pharmacokinetics of levodopa in Parkinson's disease.
abstract: Changes in body weight may induce substantial variations in peripheral pharmacokinetics of drugs, but the relation between body weight and levodopa (LD) pharmacokinetics has never been investigated in Parkinson's disease. To address this issue, we conducted a pharmacokinetic study with 164 patients with sporadic Parkinson's disease. Patients underwent an oral acute LD test with 250 mg of LD, and pharmacokinetic variables were assessed at baseline and at 30, 60, 120, and 240 minutes after LD administration. Plasmatic-LD areas under the curve and body weight were significantly and inversely correlated as well as the elimination of the half-life of LD and body weight. In our sample, women were significantly lighter and had a significantly greater area under the curve than men. Moreover, a greater percentage of women showed LD peak-dose dyskinesias compared with men. Our findings suggest that lighter patients with Parkinson's disease probably receive a greater cumulative dosage of LD per kilogram of body weight during long-term treatment, because in clinical practice, LD is administered without any adjustment of the dose to body weight. This could explain gender differences for the development of LD-induced peak-dose dyskinesias observed during the course of the disease.
authors: Institute of Neurology, University Magna Graecia, Catanzaro, Italy.
authors: Mario
authors: M
authors: Zappia
authors: Lucia
authors: L
authors: Crescibene
authors: Gennarina
authors: G
authors: Arabia
authors: Giuseppe
authors: G
authors: Nicoletti
authors: Angelo
authors: A
authors: Bagalà
authors: Loredana
authors: L
authors: Bastone
authors: Manuela
authors: M
authors: Caracciolo
authors: Simona
authors: S
authors: Bonavita
authors: Alfonso
authors: A
authors: Di Costanzo
authors: Massimo
authors: M
authors: Scornaienchi
authors: Antonio
authors: A
authors: Gambardella
authors: Aldo
authors: A
authors: Quattrone
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000097:blood / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D019540:Area Under Curve; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000097:blood / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D007980:Levodopa