L-Dopa preparation

The main clinical use of COMT inhibitors is as adjunct (or additional adjunct) in the therapy of Parkinson s disease. The standard therapy of Parkinson s disease is oral L-dopa (as a drug levodopa) given with a dopa decarboxylase (DDC) inhibitor (e.g. carbidopa and benserazide), which does not reach the brain. When the peripheral DDC is inhibited, the concentration of 3-O-methyldopa (3-OMD), a product of COMT, in plasma is many times that of L-dopa. Since the half-life of 3-OMD is about 15 h, compared to about 1 h for L-dopa, the concentration of 3-OMD remains particularly high during chronic therapy, especially if new slow release L-dopa preparations are used. A triple therapy (L-dopa plus DDC inhibitor plus COMT-inhibitor) will... 

F. Fuchtner, P. Angelberger, H. Kvaternik, F. Hammerschmidt, B. Peric-Simovc, J. Steinbach, Aspects of 6-[ F]fluoro-L-DOPA preparation Precursor synthesis, preparative HPLC purification and determination of radiochemical purity, Nucl. Med. Biol. 29 (2002) 477-481. 

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