988
Higher bromocriptine dosage caused gross dyskinesias patients. In 2 other patients, levodopa has been parreplaced tially by bromocriptine 10 mg and 20 mg daily, with a reduced frequency of response swings in one but not the other. Bromocriptine 40 mg daily has also been used to treat 2 patients initially thought to have idiopathic Parkinson’s disease who had not responded at all to levodopa. Neither of these levodopa failures responded to bromocriptine. The initial diagnosis may have been incorrect, since neither patient had a rhythmic tremor and both were mildly demented, but, despite this diagnostic uncertainty, the hoped-for gains from bromocriptine have not yet been achieved. This drug is highly effective in animal models of parkinsonism, however, and merits more detailed study using higher dosages. It remains to be determined whether bromocriptine treatment will have any practical advantages over levodopa. obvious. in these
We
are
grateful
to
Sandoz Products Limited for
supplies of bromo-
criptine. A. GALEA DEBONO I. DONALDSON C. D. MARSDEN J. D. PARKES
University Department
of Neurology, King’s College and the Maudsley Hospitals, London SE5.
PROSTAGLANDINS, ULCERATIVE COLITIS, AND SULPHASALAZINE
SIR,-Prostaglandins (P.G.s) are a potent cause of diarrhoea are regulators of the inflammatory response. Faeces from patients with ulcerative colitis have been examined for the presence ofp.G.-like substances lest they be implicated in the pathogenesis of this condition. Using an acidic lipid-extraction technique’ p.G.-Hke substances in the faaces have been bioassayed on the rat-fundus strip2 made more specific for P.G.s by the addition of selective antagonists.3 There is a virtual absence of p.G.-like material in and
1. Unger, W. G., Stamford, I. F., Bennett, A. Nature, 1971, 233, 336. 2. Vane, J. R. Br. J. Pharmacol. 1957, 12, 344. 3. Bennett, A., Stamford, I. F., Unger, W. G. J. Physiol., Lond. 1973, 229, 349.
the stools from control subjects (
Higher bromocriptine dosage caused gross dyskinesias patients. In 2 other patients, levodopa has been parreplaced tially by bromocriptine 10 mg and 20 mg daily, with a reduced frequency of response swings in one but not the other. Bromocriptine 40 mg daily has also been used to treat 2 patients initially thought to have idiopathic Parkinson’s disease who had not responded at all to levodopa. Neither of these levodopa failures responded to bromocriptine. The initial diagnosis may have been incorrect, since neither patient had a rhythmic tremor and both were mildly demented, but, despite this diagnostic uncertainty, the hoped-for gains from bromocriptine have not yet been achieved. This drug is highly effective in animal models of parkinsonism, however, and merits more detailed study using higher dosages. It remains to be determined whether bromocriptine treatment will have any practical advantages over levodopa. obvious. in these
We
are
grateful
to
Sandoz Products Limited for
supplies of bromo-
criptine. A. GALEA DEBONO I. DONALDSON C. D. MARSDEN J. D. PARKES
University Department
of Neurology, King’s College and the Maudsley Hospitals, London SE5.
PROSTAGLANDINS, ULCERATIVE COLITIS, AND SULPHASALAZINE
SIR,-Prostaglandins (P.G.s) are a potent cause of diarrhoea are regulators of the inflammatory response. Faeces from patients with ulcerative colitis have been examined for the presence ofp.G.-like substances lest they be implicated in the pathogenesis of this condition. Using an acidic lipid-extraction technique’ p.G.-Hke substances in the faaces have been bioassayed on the rat-fundus strip2 made more specific for P.G.s by the addition of selective antagonists.3 There is a virtual absence of p.G.-like material in and
1. Unger, W. G., Stamford, I. F., Bennett, A. Nature, 1971, 233, 336. 2. Vane, J. R. Br. J. Pharmacol. 1957, 12, 344. 3. Bennett, A., Stamford, I. F., Unger, W. G. J. Physiol., Lond. 1973, 229, 349.
the stools from control subjects (
