Effect of L-dopa on periodic movements in sleep in narcolepsy.

Five narcoleptic patients presenting periodic movements in sleep were investigated during treatment with L-dopa administered together with a decarboxylase inhibitor. One of these patients was also treated with gamma-hydroxybutyrate and zimelidine, and recorded at the sleep laboratory under each condition. L-dopa was effective in controlling periodic movements in sleep in all patients, but gamma-hydroxybutyrate or zimelidine were not. These results are discussed in view of a dopaminergic implication in the pathogenesis of periodic movements in sleep.