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It's been about 5 months since my mother's diagnosis (Joyce, 67) and about that amount of time since I plowed through the Web to learn about this disease. I seem to remember reading that L-dopa's conversion to dopamine is accomplished by loss of an amino acid (I guess the neurons that die in a PWP perform this detachment). If this picture is correct, and given what is happening in a PWP -- i.e., death of the neuron that makes this conversion -- it seems that L-dopa won't do someone in advanced stages too much good as the neurons to transform the L-dopa into dopamine just aren't there in numbers. What I'm wondering is, is it possible to pass "smart L-dopa" through the blood-brain barrier -- that is, L-dopa that somehow contains within itself the ability to get rid of (dropping) the amino acid that transforms it into dopamine? Assuming I have set up the picture correctly, does anyone know if any type of work is being done in this area -- if it's even possible? Thanks. Debbie White [log in to unmask]