N. Ogawa et al., BROMOCRIPTINE PROTECTS MICE AGAINST 6-HYDROXYDOPAMINE AND SCAVENGES HYDROXYL FREE-RADICALS IN-VITRO, Brain research, 657(1-2), 1994, pp. 207-213
Pretreatment with bromocriptine (5 mg/kg, i.p., 7 days) completely pro
tected against the decrease in mouse striatal dopamine and its metabol
ites induced by intraventricular injection of 6-hydroxydopamine after
intraperitoneal administration of desipramine, but similar pretreatmen
t with L-DOPA/carbidopa (75/7.5 mg/kg, i.p., 7 days) showed only parti
al protective effect. Furthermore, in an in vitro system that generate
d .OH from FeSO4-H2O2, bromocriptine dose-dependently reduced the numb
er of. OH radicals. These findings indicate that bromocriptine has a n
europrotective effect against neurotoxins such as 6-hydroxydopamine, p
robably due, in part, to its hydroxyl radical scavenging activity and
inhibiting effect on dopamine turnover rate. This suggests that early
introduction of bromocriptine in the therapy of Parkinson's disease ma
y be superior to treatment with L-DOPA alone.