[Rasagiline: effectiveness and protection in Parkinson's disease]

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most frequent neurodegenerative disease in the general population after Alzheimer's disease. Its diagnosis is based on the presence of characteristic motor symptoms due to the striatal dopaminergic depletion caused by progressive neuronal death in the pars compacta substantiae nigrae. Thus, not only is it necessary to restore the neurochemical deficits that are present from the initial phases of the disease onwards, but therapeutic strategies also need to be developed to stop the degenerative process.

Rasagiline is a monoamine oxidase-B inhibitor whose dopaminergic stimulation has proved to be effective in monotherapy or in combined therapy for improving the motor symptoms in patients with PD in the initial and advanced phases. Likewise, it is also effective in diminishing motor fluctuations.

Comparatively, rasagiline has proved to be at least as effective as entacapone in the control of motor fluctuations. With regard to the possible effect and the neuroprotective properties of rasagiline in vitro and in vivo, it is the first pharmaceutical to have displayed a change in the developmental course of PD after 72 weeks' treatment.