Blood-brain barrier permeability in Parkinson's disease patients with and without dyskinesia

Recent studies on a rodent model of Parkinson's disease (PD) have raised the possibility of increased blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, demonstrated by histology, autoradiography, and positron emission tomography (PET). However, in human PD patients, in vivo evidence of increased BBB permeability is lacking. We examined the hypothesis that levodopa treatment increases BBB permeability in human subjects with PD, particularly in those with levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID).We used rubidium-82 (Rubidium influx into brain tissue was undetectable in PD patients with or without LID, scanned on and off drug. No significant differences in regional V