Originally Posted by Conductor71

Lurking,

I see several weird things going on here. First why salamanders? Salamanders are known for regrowing their own tails, maybe in finding out how that is accomplished and can humans do something similar? That might be helpful. I don't know if they are the best model for the human brain. They have found upon autopsy that even advanced pwp had newer neuronal growth.

Next, the whole Sinemet as toxic to us thing has been hotly debated for decades. It is true that our bodies learn to make less of a substance that is being supplied for it, but I don't think we would permanently lose that ability. People here have lowered their meds after years of high doses and with DBS so I think it is really odd for them to suggest that we suffer without l-dopa in order to "recover " later. How and when exactly does this "recovery then take place?

Furthermore, if dopamine signaling is blocked, the salamander generates even more unneeded dopa? This is potentially bad news for schizophrenic people who rely on dopa receptor blockade to control their symptoms. How does this apply to us? The dopa is needed. Once again it seems to say we should not take agonists in order produce more l-dopa?

Finally, it is clear that the researchers are a bit "off". They did not induce PD in a salamander...does a salamander who has lost 80% of its dopa able to supercharge and regenerate enough dopamine to recover that profound a loss all in one day or does it take weeks? Maybe giving l-dopa to a salamander who has all its own dopa intact results in overpoduction of ldopa and toxicity, and it stops making its own as a way to maintain homeostasis?

Something is very off with this article. It wants to say that any sort of dopaminergic treatment (even agonists) is harmful. Well what alternative do we have? They do not offer one that i can see. Maybe we will one day have GABA and adenosine receptor agonists as our gold cadillac treatment but for now we're stuck and frankly I'd rather be able to move than to worry about whether or not I can begin to generate my own dopamine 10 or 20 years from now.

It looks like it may have been translated from Polish, so I am hoping for researchers sake there is a translation issue otherwise..... Am i the only one finding this "news" rather dubious? Even if we did leave sinemet alone our brains will never naturally regain their full functioning on its own anyway so what is their point?

Laura