García Ruiz P J, Meseguer E
Unidad de Movimientos Anormales, Servicio de Neurología, Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Madrid, Spain.
Neurologia. 2002 Apr;17(4):214-7.
The introduction of L-Dopa has been a landmark in Neuroscience. Before the use of L-Dopa, Parkinson's disease (PD) was considered a disabling disease with no effective treatment. The development of L-Dopa followed a rationale approach: first, the discovery of dopamine deficiency in the striatum of patients with PD; and then the use of precursor of dopamine. Overall, the whole process took less than 12 years; this is a remarkable short time taking into account that the development of a similar crucial drug such as insulin took 50 years. In addition, the success of L-Dopa stimulated the neurochemistry research for all neurodegenerative diseases.
左旋多巴的引入是神经科学领域的一个里程碑。在使用左旋多巴之前，帕金森病（PD）被认为是一种无法治愈的致残性疾病。左旋多巴的研发遵循了合理的方法：首先，发现帕金森病患者纹状体中多巴胺缺乏；然后使用多巴胺前体。总体而言，整个过程耗时不到12年；考虑到类似的关键药物胰岛素的研发耗时50年，这是相当短的时间。此外，左旋多巴的成功刺激了针对所有神经退行性疾病的神经化学研究。
