Combined
acupuncture and levodopa greatly enhanced motor functions of levodopa treatment
and reduced levodopa-induced side effects such as dyskinesia in a Parkinson’s
model, according to a study recently published in journal Brain Research.
Levodopa
is the most effective drug for alleviating motor symptoms of Parkinson’s.
However, more than 50% of PD patients treated with levodopa develop adverse
effects such as dyskinesia, hallucination, insomnia. Among these,
levodopa-induced dyskinesia is the most debilitating and severe side effect and
in many cases worsen than PD symptoms. This has a great impact on the quality
of life of patients with PD.
Researchers
in Korea investigated whether combination of acupuncture and levodopa improves
motor function in PD mice model and simultaneously alleviates dyskinesia. In combined
group PD mice were treated with acupuncture at acupoint GB34 and levodopa
(7.5mg/kg). In levodopa alone group PD mice was treated with standard dose of
levodopa (15mg/kg). PD mice in control group were given non-acupoint treatment.
Acupuncture was given once a day for 7 days. Behavioural results showed that PD
mice in combined group displayed motor function improvement that was comparable
to that of levodopa (15mg/kg) alone group, and the combined group significantly
reduced levodopa-induced dyskinesia. Biochemical study found that the
combination treatment significantly reduced abnormally elevated brain chemicals
that are closely linked with motor function and occurrence of dyskinesia.
This
study suggests that acupuncture can be used as an adjunct with levodopa to enhance
the efficacy of levodopa and reduce the adverse effects in treatment of
Parkinson’s.
Reference:
Kim SN et al., Combined
treatment with acupuncture reduces effective dose and alleviates adverse effect
of L-dopa by normalizing Parkinson's disease-induced neurochemical imbalance. Brain
Res. 2014 Jan 28;1544:33-44. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24321617
No comments:
Post a Comment