The effect of levodopa, lergotrile, and bromocriptine on brain iron, manganese, and copper.

Chronic administration of a levodopa-carbidopa combination, bromocriptine, or lergotrile produced alterations of essential metal concentrations in the guinea pig caudate nucleus, frontal cortex, and cerebellar hemisphere. All long-term treatment regimens resulted in significantly increased concentrations of manganese in all brain areas, and these same regimens resulted in almost universally decreased copper concentrations. Since the long-term administration of these dopamine agonists in man results in extrapyramidal dysfunction, these observations suggest that alterations of trace metal concentrations in the brain may be related to the chronic toxicity of these dopamine agonists.