Pathogenesis of levodopa-induced dyskinesia: focus on D1 and D3 dopamine receptors

Involuntary movements, or dyskinesia, represent a debilitating complication of levodopa therapy for Parkinson's disease. Taking advantage of a monkey brain bank constituted to study the pathophysiology of levodopa-induced dyskinesia, we here report the changes affecting D1, D2 and D3 dopamine receptors within the striatum of four experimental groups of non-human primates: normal, parkinsonian, parkinsonian treated with levodopa without or with dyskinesia. We also report the possible role of arrestin and G protein-coupled receptor kinases.