Why brain neurons in Parkinson's disease stop benefiting from levodopa

Though the drug levodopa can dramatically improve Parkinson's disease symptoms, within five years one-half of the patients using L-DOPA develop an irreversible condition -- involuntary repetitive, rapid and jerky movements. UAB researchers have uncovered an essential mechanism of long-term memory for L-DOPA-induced-dyskinesia: widespread reorganization of DNA methylation, and this may be a therapeutic target to prevent or reverse dyskinesia.