[lemontea88]

I faced this sentence in UWorld, which says that L-Dopa, if not given with Carbidopa, causes you to vomit, because the Dopamine levels in periphery is increased. Hence by giving L-Dopa with Carbidopa, we decrease the vomiting side effect.

But I thought Dopamine causes vomiting because it stimulates the CTZ in the CNS, not in the periphery?

What do you guys think?

 

[lemontea88]

Ahh, does this mean that CTZ is actually outside of the Blood brain barrier? That makes sense now. Thanks.

My bad, my neuroanat is...floppy.

 

[lemontea88]

Oh, and by the way, if this is so, does this mean that Ondansetron actually acts OUTSIDE of the central nervous system?

Because since it blocks the 5HT on the CTZ, and the CTZ is directly linked to our blood, this means that ondansetron by right don't have to cross the BBB to work is it? Cuz I am a little confuse when First Aid says that ondansetron is a "central-acting anti-emetic". What do they mean by the "central" actually?