A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Medicine,
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg,
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Medicine) / Idiopathic Parkinson's disease remains one of the commonest
neurodegenerative diseases known today. It causes incapacita
ting symptoms untreated but when given replacement neurotransmitters,
principally levodopa or dopamine, corrects
the major features of the illness. The fundamental cause
of nigral dopaminergic cell decline remains unknown, is not
principally genetic, but may be due to abnormal hepatic
handling of neurotoxins. One such putative neurotovin is
MPTP which causes parkinsonism in man and primates. The
MPTP-treated primate model is thus a useful model within
which new drugs, including dopamine receptor agonists may
be tested.
Levodopa remains the mainstay of successful pharmacotherapy
in the treatment of parkinson's disease. However the last
decades have taught us that levodopa treatment with time
produces problems of dyskinesias and unpredictable motor
fluctuations. Hence alternate pharmacotherapy is sought to
supplement levodopa or possibly to circumvent its
necessity. (Abbreviation abstract) / Andrew Chakane 2019
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/26793 |
| Date | January 1991 |
| Creators | Temlett, James Alexander |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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