Dear Brian:
In your latest posting to B. Joly re: the chart 'A' depiction
of levodopa in the blood stream, you state:
>>>". . . If a person who does not have PD is given a big
shot of levodopa, it has a quite remarkable effect - nothing
happens, and it keeps on happening: No tremor, No
Dyskinesia : Nothing. The reason is that the brain's 'Control
System' which is part of a very sophisticated production
process detects the presence of the excess levodopa and
responds by shutting down the equivalent amount of naturally
produced dopamine, so the flow to the axons is unaffected. .
."<<<
I have a few questions:
1. What is a 'big shot' of levodopa? It is purely levodopa,
without carbidopa? In what concentration?
2. Do you have a citation to a clinical study where
researchers experimented with inducing levodopa into
non-PD subjects?
3. In light of the fact that researchers have determined that
levodopa, without carbidopa, doesn't cross into the blood
stream without significant degradation in the liver (even before
it gets to the blood-brain barrier) is it possible that a
mechanism exists in the periphery to metabolize "excess"
levodopa, without the brain adjusting the dopamine
production in the neurons?
Stephan 53/7
