UAB researchers discover why brain neurons in Parkinson’s disease stop benefiting from levodopa

Though the drug levodopa can dramatically improve Parkinson’s disease symptoms, within five years one-half of the patients using L-DOPA develop an irreversible condition — involuntary repetitive, rapid and jerky movements. This abnormal motor behavior appears only while taking L-DOPA, and it stops if the drug is stopped. However, if L-DOPA is taken again, even many months later, it quickly re-emerges.