Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that has been plaguing tens of thousands of people each year, and as a result, there has been lots of research to find a drug or compound which, if used correctly, will allow for a decrease in the symptoms of the disorder. One idea that has come into the minds of many researchers is that dopamine agonists might be able to help reduce the effects that the disease has upon a person. As a result of this thought, the question of how useful dopamine agonists are in the treatment of or minimization of the effects of Parkinson’s Disease. This paper focuses heavily on the topic of the optimality of dopamine agonists in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and relies upon past research on the subject of dopamine agonists and other PD treatments/therapies. Although an agonist, in scientific terms, is known as a chemical substance capable of combining with a specific receptor on a cell and initiating the same reaction or activity typically produced by the original substance itself, these dopamine agonists have not proven to be as effective as can be assumed. These agonists, even with the ability to imitate the reaction of dopamine agonists, are not as useful as other treatments to PD, such as Levodopa. As a result, in this paper, comparisons and analyses are conducted between the two largest categories of PD therapy, helping derive a conclusion. The findings in this paper indicate some rather surprising results, and prove that dopamine agonists might not be as useful in the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease as they might appear to be.
Research Paper by Samarth Keerthivasan, 11th Grade, Pomperaug High School, Connecticut
#ParkinsonsDisease #Parkinsons #Dopamine #DopamineAgonists #Levodopa #L-Dopa