BUSPIRONE IN LEVODOPA-INDUCED DYSKINESIAS

We made a double-blind, crossover comparison of buspirone (10 mg orall y, twice a day) and placebo in 10 patients with Parkinson's disease an d levodopa-induced dyskinesias. The duration of the study was 3 weeks, for both buspirone and for placebo treatment. Chronic therapies remai ned unchanged. The extrapyramidal symptoms, dyskinesias, and anxious/d epressive symptoms were evaluated at the beginning of the study and af ter the buspirone and placebo treatments. Seven patients concluded the trial. The extrapyramidal symptoms, evaluated in both the ''off'' and ''on'' states during an oral L-Dopa test, did not show any worsening during the trial. Buspirone significantly lessened the severity of lev odopa-induced dyskinesias in five of the seven patients, whereas it pr oved ineffective in the two patients with the mildest dyskinesias. The re were no changes in the mild anxious and depressive symptoms at any time during the study. The activities of buspirone on the serotonin an d dopamine systems might have led to the antidyskinetic effect we obse rved. At daily dosages of 20 mg, buspirone might prove effective in re ducing levodopa-induced dyskinesias without worsening of parkinsonism.