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To: Subject: Artane -- Parting Comments Hi, Brian. To be sure, no offense taken by your intellectual aggressiveness, as it has been accompanied by tact, diplomacy, and good intentions. I want to assure you that given my elementary knowledge of PD and meds and for the sake of our fellow list members (who are rightfully looking for "news they can use") that I have no desire to posture this dialog as a "debate" (life is short... and anyway, I never said I LIKED highschool debate <smiling>.) At any rate, my reply to your last memo follows: #1. Yes, PD symptoms become evident when the large majority (80+%) of the dopamine-producing cells have died off (or as I prefer to think, are not functioning). That is, as you put it, pretty much "the story". #2. However, with the depletion of dopamine, it is the excitory effect of the neurotransmitter acteylcholine which -- now untethered from the restraining effect of dopamine -- engenders the symptoms of PD. Hence, the advent of the anticholinergics which act as a stand-in for dopamine in putting the reins back on the acetylcholine. As I previously noted, this explanation was extracted from Dr. Robert Duvoisin's book, Parkinson's Disease -- A Guide for Patient and Family. You've afforded me too much credit by referring to this overview as my "account". #3. Anticholingeric drugs are far from a panacea but since they've been around for 40+ years, they must be offering some benefit. From my experience as well as the comments of other listees, Artane offered symptomatic relief but at the expense of profound side effects. Brian, I believe that we share the position that Artane really isn't worthy of the amount of attention we've given it. And I dare say that there is little "debate" that the drug and the category as a whole is not among the top ranking anti-PD meds these days. Beyond this, your challenges in your search for the truth caused me to do some more digging and double-checking which in turn revved up my learning curve. Looking forward to chatting with you again in the not-too- distant future. Best Regards.