title: Chronic high dose transdermal nicotine in Parkinson's disease: an open trial.
abstract: Whether nicotine has therapeutic effects on Parkinson's disease (PD) symptoms is controversial, but high doses and chronic treatment have never been tested. We report the results of a pilot, open-label trial to assess the safety and possible efficacy of chronic high doses of nicotine. Six patients with advanced idiopathic PD received increasing daily doses of transdermal nicotine up to 105 mg/day over 17 weeks. All patients but one accepted the target dose. Nausea and vomiting were frequent but moderate, and occurred in most of the patients (four of six) who received over 90 mg/day and 14 weeks of nicotine treatment. During the plateau phase, patients improved their motor scores and dopaminergic treatment was reduced. These results confirm the feasibility of chronic high dose nicotinic treatment in PD but warrant validation of the beneficial effects by a randomized controlled trial.
authors.affiliation: Service de Neurologie, Hôpital Henri Mondor, and unité INSERM U841-NPI, Créteil, France.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Villafane
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cesaro
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rialland
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baloul
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Azimi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bourdet
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Le Houezec
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Macquin-Mavier
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maison
mesh_terms: D000279:Administration, Cutaneous; D018491:Dopamine Agonists / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004357:Drug Synergism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009325:Nausea / Q000139:chemically induced; D009538:Nicotine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D018491:Dopamine Agonists; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists; D009538:Nicotine