Diphenylhydantoin. Blocking of levodopa effects

Diphenylhydantoin (DPH) diminished the therapeutic effects of levodopa both in patients with parkinsonism and in patients with chronic manganese poisoning, as well as the levodopa-dependent dyskinesia for which the former were selected. In patients with Huntington chorea, it enhanced chorea and mental agitation and, thus, failed to conform with the postulated pharmacological reciprocity between Parkinson disease and Huntington chorea. These findings are in agreement with experiments done in animals in which DPH blocked a neuronal response to dopamine.