Step I UW or FA?

[jfgavina]

FA says that the main toxicity of L-dopa is arrhythmias, but when I got a question on the issue in UW they say that the main adverse effect is anxiety and agitation... And tachyarrhythmias was one of the options, so I picked it. Does L-dopa cause any kind of arrhythmia other than tachy as well as anxiety and agitation? even if it does I think FA should be corrected on this issue because it is very inespecific by only telling us that it causes arrhythmias.

who's got it right?

edit: they say "what effect is most likely to arise after adding carbidopa to a levodopa therapy?"

I hope someone can explain me this one!

 

[ih8mcat]

I think the tachyarrythmia (d1 receptors - i'm assuming) is more an effect of PERIPHERAL conversion. But when you give carbidopa alongside levodopa you are eliminating all of the peripheral effects. I annotated the anx/agitation into my FA because that's a central effect, and you'd still get that if you prevented peripheral conversion with carbidopa.

 

[DocEspana]

I think the tachyarrythmia (d1 receptors - i'm assuming) is more an effect of PERIPHERAL conversion. But when you give carbidopa alongside levodopa you are eliminating all of the peripheral effects. I annotated the anx/agitation into my FA because that's a central effect, and you'd still get that if you prevented peripheral conversion with carbidopa.

this is correct. 👍

 

[jfgavina]

cool, thanks 🙂