title: L-Dopa therapy increases homocysteine concentration in cerebrospinal fluid from patients with Parkinson's disease.
abstract: To investigate the effect of L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-dopa) therapy on homocysteine (HC) concentration in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), the concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of total HC and methionine (Met) were compared between 18 patients with PD before and after treatment with L-dopa and 16 neurologically normal control patients. Concentrations of total HC in patients with PD were significantly higher following L-dopa therapy (169+/-27 nM) than before treatment (111+/-22 nM) and than in controls (85+/-25 nM) (patients with PD before L-dopa treatment vs. controls, p<0.005; patients with PD after L-dopa treatment vs. before treatment, p<0.0001). Conversely, concentrations of total Met in patients with PD were significantly lower after L-dopa therapy (5.3+/-1.7 microM) than before L-dopa therapy (6.8+/-1.9 microM) (p<0.001). These findings in patients with PD suggest that L-dopa therapy enhances intracerebral methylation and elevates concentration of HC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Iwate Medical University, 19-1 Uchimaru, Morioka, Iwate 020-0805, Japan. chiso@apost.plala.or.jp
authors.forename: Chiaki
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Isobe
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Terayama
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008715:Methionine / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000188:drug therapy; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D006710:Homocysteine; D007980:Levodopa; D008715:Methionine