Co-administration of β-asarone and Levodopa increase dopamine in rat's brain via accelerating transformation of Levodopa: A different mechanism from madopar.
Huang L1, Deng M, Zhang S, Fang Y, Li L.
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Abstract
The aim is to study the effect of β-asarone and levodopa (L-dopa) co-administration on increasing dopamine (DA) in the striatum of healthy rats. In this study, rats were randomly divided into four groups: normal group (normal saline), madopar group (75mg/kg, L-dopa: Benserazide=4:1), L-dopa group (60mg/kg, L-dopa) and co-administered group (15mg/kg, β-asarone; 60mg/kg, L-dopa). All rats were given by intragastric administration twice a day for 7 days. Then DA, L-dopa, serotonin (5-HT), homovanillic acid (HVA) and 3, 4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), catecholamine oxygen methyl transferase (COMT) and monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) in plasma and striatum were determined. Results of co-administered group showed that L-dopa declined in striatum and plasma, however, DA and DOPAC increased in striatum and plasma, HVA was similar in striatum and increased in plasma; 5-HT was similar in striatum and plasma as compared with that of madopar group. In addition, COMT levels decreased in plasma and striatum after co-administration, while MAO-B levels showed no significant difference among the groups. Besides, the co-administration could also increase TH levels in plasma. Altogether, β-asarone has an effect on converting L-dopa into DA by modulating the activity of COMT and DA metabolism. The mechanism of co-administration is different from that of madopar in Parkinson's disease (PD) treatment. So the co-administration of β-asarone and L-dopa may be beneficial to PD treatment. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS:
Dopamine; High performance liquid chromatography; Levodopa; Plasma; Striatum; β-asarone

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24910244