NIH Directors Blog: "Gut-Dwelling Bacterium Consumes Parkinson’s Drug"

https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2019/06/25/gut-dwelling-bacterium-consumes-parkinsons-drug/

 

Interesting news. These findings may also lead the way to discoveries about how the micrbiome may effect other drug treatments. It is encouraging that the micrbiome has seemed to be gaining more research attention.

 

Wasn't L dopa used to treat encephalitis lethargica patients? Could this be why the treatment became increasingly ineffective and was ultimately stopped?

 

@chrisb, do you mean with broader use of this drug, it became increasingly ineffective? Rather like some antibiotics then.

Others can provide a more science based answer, but the movie "Awakening" indicates levodopa was used for these patients.

If researchers have wondered since the 70s about gut bug interference with L- dopa, has there been any development of alternative administration of this drug to bypass the gut?

 

Yes, the patients made a dramatic improvement but then gradually stopped responding. That matches a few things I have read about. When I first took metformin for diabetes I was better than I had been for 20 years but then back to where I was. very interesting.