Comparison of Neurotoxicity following Repeated Administration of L-Dopa,D-Dopa,and Dopamine to Embryonic Mesencephalic Dopamine Neurons in Cultures Derived from Fisher 344 and Sprague-Dawley Donors

Levodopa is the most efficacious and widely used symptomatic drug for Parkinson's disease (PD). There is currently, however, a great deal of interest focused on the possibility that levodopa-induced increases in dopamine (DA) turnover may increase oxidative damage derived from the breakdown of DA. Increased oxidative damage following levodopa may contribute to the progressive degeneration of remaining host nigral neurons as well as interfere with development and function of embryonic nigral neurons in neural grafting trials. There is abundant evidence that levodopa is toxic to embryonic nigral DA neurons in both cell culture and neural grafting models. These findings have prompted a number of studies on mechanisms of levodopa toxicity to identify effective means of ameliorating potential oxidative stress related to levodopa in PD. In the current study we have utilized cultures of embryonic nigral DA neurons to address the fundamental question of whether levodopa-induced toxicity is related to DA production or whether dopa itself contributes to cell death. We compared the degree of nigral DA cell death following chronic administration of: 1) levodopa (e.g.: l-dopa); 2) its less active stereoisomer d-dopa; and 3) DA. We examined the rank order of toxicity of these compounds in two species of rats, Fisher 344 (F344) and Sprague-Dawley (SD). Results indicate a toxicity profile of: DA > l-dopa > > d-dopa. In addition, although there was no difference in response of F344 and SD cultures to l-dopa, the SD cultures were significantly more susceptible to the neurotoxic effects of DA. Taken collectively, these results suggest that levodopa-induced toxicity is related primarily to DA production rather than oxidation of dopa to toxic metabolites, and that some strain related differences do exist.