Should continuous dopaminergic stimulation be a standard of care in advanced Parkinson's disease?

The standard of care is a term that refers to the level of care, skill, and treatment that a healthcare provider should offer to a patient based on the current scientific evidence and the level of medical knowledge available in the field. For Parkinson's disease (PD), the standard care is mostly considered to be oral treatment with dopaminergic drugs, particularly levodopa which remains the 'gold standard'. However, effective management with levodopa during the later stages of the disease becomes increasingly challenging due to the ongoing neurodegenerative process, the consequences of its pulsatile dopaminergic stimulation, and the gastrointestinal barriers to effective drug absorption.

How and why the adenosine A receptor became a target for Parkinson's disease therapy.

Dopaminergic therapy for Parkinson's disease has revolutionised the treatment of the motor symptoms of the illness. However, it does not alleviate all components of the motor deficits and has only limited effects on non-motor symptoms. For this reason, alternative non-dopaminergic approaches to treatment have been sought and the adenosine A receptor provided a novel target for symptomatic therapy both within the basal ganglia and elsewhere in the brain.

Future Directions for Developing Non-dopaminergic Strategies for the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease.

The symptomatic treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) has been dominated by the use of dopaminergic medication, but significant unmet need remains, much of which is related to non-motor symptoms and the involvement of non-dopaminergic transmitter systems. As such, little has changed in the past decades that has led to milestone advances in therapy and significantly improved treatment paradigms and patient outcomes, particularly in relation to symptoms unresponsive to levodopa. This review has looked at how pharmacological approaches to treatment are likely to develop in the near and distant future and will focus on two areas: 1) novel non-dopaminergic pharmacological strategies to control motor symptoms; and 2) novel non-dopaminergic approaches for the treatment of non-motor symptoms.

Stalevo : A pioneering treatment for OFF periods in Parkinsons disease.

Enzymatic metabolism is the key determinant of the overall bioavailability, brain penetration, and efficacy of levodopa in the treatment of Parkinsons disease (PD). Enzyme inhibitors in the form of peripheral dopa-decarboxylase inhibitors and monoamine oxidase type-B inhibitors have been successfully employed to maximize the utility of levodopa in both early- and late-stage PD. However, another major pathway of the peripheral metabolism of levodopa through catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) remains unchecked by those measures.