Basal ganglia circuits underlying the pathophysiology of levodopa-induced dyskinesia

Abstract

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Involuntary movements, or dyskinesia, represent a debilitating complication of levodopa therapy for Parkinson’s disease. Dyskinesia are, ultimately, experienced by the vast majority of the patients. Despite the importance of this problem, little was known about the cause of dyskinesia, a situation that has dramatically evolved in the last few years with a focus upon the molecular and signalling changes induced by chronic levodopa treatment. Departing from this, we here review the progress made in functional anatomy and neuroimaging that have had a tremendous impact on our understanding of the anatomo-functional organization of the basal ganglia in Parkinsonism and dyskinetic states, notably the demonstration that dyskinesia are linked to a pathological processing of limbic and cognitive information.

Keywords

• Basal Ganglia
• Levodopa
• Parkinson's disease
• abnormal involuntary movements