Tolerance to a suprathreshold dose of L-Dopa in MPTP mice: effects of glutamate antagonists

Three experiments were performed to study the development and manipulation of tolerance to a suprathreshold dose of L-Dopa (20 mg/kg, s.c.) in MPTP-treated and control (saline-injected) C57 B1/6 mice. The motor activity reinstatement effect of this dose of L-Dopa upon MPTP-treated mouse behaviour deteriorated from the 13th injection (Test Day 8) of L-Dopa onwards and reached basal level (i.e. no stimulatory effects of the drug) by the 16th administration (Test Day 10). Administration of L-Dopa to control mice reduced locomotor and rearing activity throughout the tolerance development period (Test Days 1-12) during the first hour after injection, and then increased locomotor activity during the second hour. The effects of combining either a noncompetitive, MK-801, or a competitive, CGP 40116, glutamate antagonist with L-Dopa, following tolerance development, were assessed in MPTP mice on the 23rd day of L-Dopa administration (Test Day 13). MK-801 (0.1 mg/kg, s.c.) reinstated the locomotory and rearing behaviour induced by L-Dopa; CGP 40116 did so also to a greater extent in the dose range 0.01 to 0.03 mg/kg. These results indicate that MPTP-treated mice continue to offer a useful parkinsonian model also for the examination of different aspects of the "wearing-off'' phenomenon of L-Dopa tolerance and in particular the putative glutamatergic involvement. The clinical consequences may be far-reaching for the utility of L-Dopa in Parkinson's disease, whether the effects demonstrated be of a reinstatement or synergistic nature, once therapeutically adequate glutamate antagonists are more readily available.