What is it about?
Even 50 years after its initial use, levodopa is still the most effective medical therapy for the symptomatic treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Here we describe the history of levodopa, including its discovery, development and current use in the treatment of PD. We compare it to other established treatments and discuss its side effects including whether levodopa has toxic or protective effects on nerve cells.
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Why is it important?
In addition to examining the history of levodopa treatment this paper contains a comparison of levodopa to the current alternative pharmacological treatments and a summary of the latest research on levodopa-induced side-effects and the debate of neurotoxic vs. neuroprotective effects.
Perspectives
Writing this paper was great as it allowed me to get updated on the latest developments in the clinical treatment of Parkinson's disease and to learn a lot about the history of the field.
Helle Bogetofte
University of Southern Denmark
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Levodopa Therapy for Parkinson's Disease: History, Current Status and Perspectives, CNS & Neurological Disorders - Drug Targets, December 2020, Bentham Science Publishers,
DOI: 10.2174/1871527319666200722153156.
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