DIHYDROERGOCRYPTINE IN THE TREATMENT OF PARKINSONS-DISEASE

In the last 20 years dopamine agonists have been considered more and m ore helpful as primary therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD). Recently the neuroprotective activity and the therapeutic efficacy of a new erg ot derivative, alpha-dihydroergocryptine (DHEC), has been highlighted. In the present work we resume the experimental and clinical data repo rted about this drug. The rationale for dopamine (DA) agonists as prim ary therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD) is based on the possibility t o delay the onset of long term 1-dopa syndrome (LTS) (King, 1992); mor eover DA agonists seem to exert a neuroprotective effect on substantia nigra neurons. In fact, they stimulate DA receptors bypassing the deg enerating nigrostriatal neurons and their metabolic machinery (Lieberm an, 1992; Olanow, 1999); more recently, some studies have shown that t hese drugs have a direct protective effect too (Felten et al., 1992; Y oshikawa et al., 1994). In this minireview we resume the data reported about neuroprotective activity and therapeutic efficacy of a new ergo t derivative, alpha-dihydroergocryptine (DHEC).