Paradoxical response to dopamine agonists in tardive dyskinesia

The authors conducted an extensive pharmacological analysis of a patient severely affected by tardive dyskinesia. No drug treatment gave lasting clinical improvement. Several agents recently recommended for this condition, dimethyl aminoethanol, clozapine, and thioridazine, failed to modify the dyskinesia. Reserpine caused a worsening of the symptoms. A paradoxical and unexpected improvement was observed with apomorphine injections and with low-dosage oral L-dopa. These two drugs may have acted by stimulating presynaptic inhibitory dopamine receptors.