The long-term replacement
therapy with the
dopamine (DA) precursor 3,4-dihydroxy-l-phenylalanine (
L-DOPA) is a milestone in the treatment of
Parkinson's disease (PD). Although this
drug precursor can be metabolized into the active
neurotransmitter DA throughout the brain, its therapeutic benefit is due to restoring extracellular DA levels within the dorsal striatum, which lacks endogenous DA as a consequence of the neurodegenerative process induced by the disease. In the early phases of PD,
L-DOPA treatment is able to restore both long-term depression (LTD) and long-term potentiation (LTP), two major forms of corticostriatal synaptic plasticity that are altered by dopaminergic
denervation. However, unlike physiological DA transmission, this therapeutic approach in the advanced phase of the disease leads to abnormal peaks of DA, non-synaptically released, which are supposed to trigger behavioural sensitization, namely
L-DOPA-induced
dyskinesia. This condition is characterized by a loss of synaptic depotentiation, an inability to reverse previously induced LTP. In the advanced stages of PD,
L-DOPA can also induce non-motor fluctuations with
cognitive dysfunction and neuropsychiatric symptoms such as compulsive behaviours and
impulse control disorders. Although the mechanisms underlying the role of
L-DOPA in both motor and behavioural symptoms are still incompletely understood, recent data from electrophysiological and imaging studies have increased our understanding of the function of the brain areas involved and of the mechanisms implicated in both therapeutic and adverse actions of
L-DOPA in PD patients.