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Rodney C. Bryant, MD, MA
Good Samaritan Hospital Woodbury, TN 37190

Arch Neurol. 1980;37(10):677.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

Beasley et al reported (ARCHIVES 37:155-156, 1980) the effects of 2 to 6 g/day of tryptophan on levodopa-associated psychiatric symptoms in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of nine patients with Parkinson's disease. They concluded that treatment with tryptophan had little effect: it "failed to modify" total scores on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS)¹; and the incidence of nightmares "remained unchanged" during administration of tryptophan.

I looked at the change in BPRS score (calculated from their data as "Placebo Period" minus "Tryptophan Period"), comparing it with the duration of disease for each of the authors' patients. In general, improvement on the BPRS during the period of tryptophan administration was associated with shorter disease duration, with deterioration being associated with greater disease duration (r = —.758; P =.029, two-tailed).²

Is there some ongoing process in Parkinson's disease that eventually renders patients nonsusceptible to the ameliorative effects of tryptophan . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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