J Clin Psychopharmacol 1996 Dec;16(6):440-5
Ceruletide improves event-related potential indicators of cognitive processing in young but not in elderly humans.Dodt C, Sarnighausen HE, Pietrowsky R, Fehm HL, Born J. Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University of Lubeck, Germany.
The effect of intravenously administered ceruletide, a cholecystokinin (CCK) analogue, on neurophysiologic signs of stimulus processing was tested in 16 young (19-28 years) and 16 aged (70-86 years) healthy subjects. Placebo or 2.5 micrograms ceruletide was infused within 30 minutes according to a double-blind within-subject crossover design. Thereafter, auditory event-related brain potential (AERP) responses to stimuli of an "oddball" task (including the random presentation of frequent standard tones and rare target tones) were recorded. Amplitudes of the P2, P3, and SW components of the AERP were reduced in aged subjects (p < 0.05, p < 0.001, and p < 0.01, respectively), and latencies (from stimulus onset) of the N2 and P3 components were prolonged (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively). Together, these changes indicate impaired cognitive processing capabilities in aged compared with young subjects. Ceruletide enhanced P3 and also the subsequent slow-wave (SW) component that occurs 500 to 700 ms poststimulus in young subjects (p < 0.05 and p < 0.001, respectively). The peptide did not at all affect AERPs in the elderly subjects. Results demonstrate the capability of ceruletide after systemic administration to enhance central nervous system indicators of cognitive processing such as P3 and SW in young subjects. However, despite the clear effect of the CCK analogue in young subjects, it remained ineffective in the group of aged subjects and, thus, failed to compensate for the decline in AERP signs of working memory functioning in the elderly subjects.
Glycine In Healthy Young AdultsJ Clin Psychopharmacol 1999 Dec;19(6):506-12
Beneficial effects of glycine (bioglycin) on memory and attention in young and middle-aged adults.File SE, Fluck E, Fernandes C. Psychopharmacology Research Unit, United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals, Guy's Hospital, London, United Kingdom.
The N-methyl D-aspartate receptor complex is involved in the mechanism of long-term potentiation, which is thought to be the biological basis of learning and memory. This complex can be manipulated in a number of ways, one of which is through the strychnine-insensitive glycine receptor coagonist site. The effects of Bioglycin (Konapharma, Pratteln, Switzerland), a biologically active form of the amino acid glycine, were therefore studied in healthy students (mean age, 20.7 years) and middle-aged men (mean age, 58.9 years) with tests that measured attention, memory and mood, using a double-blind, randomized, crossover design. Compared with the young group, the middle-aged group had significantly poorer verbal episodic memory, focused, divided, and sustained attention; they also differed in their subjective responses at the end of testing.
Bioglycin significantly improved retrieval from episodic memory in both the young and the middle-aged groups, but it did not affect focused or divided attention. However, the middle-aged men significantly benefited from Bioglycin in the sustained-attention task. The effects of Bioglycin differed from those of other cognitive enhancers in that it was without stimulant properties or significant effects on mood, and it primarily improved memory rather than attention. It is likely to be of benefit in young or older people in situations where high retrieval of information is needed or when performance is impaired by jet lag, shift work, or disrupted sleep. It may also benefit the impaired retrieval shown in patients with schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease.
Vyssh Nerv Deiat Im I P Pavlova 1997 Mar-Apr;47(2):420-30
A nootropic adrenocorticotropin analog 4-10-semax (l5 years experience in its design and study)Asmarin IP, Nezavibat'ko VN, Miasoedov NF, Kamenskii AA, Grivennikov IA, Ponomareva-Stepnaia MA, Andreeva LA, Kaplan AIa, Koshelev VB, Riasina TV.
Semax is one of the rare analogues of regulatory peptides which underwent all stages from fundamental investigations to practical usage. It has been demonstrated that this peptide is capable to stimulate operative memory and attention, to increase resistance to hypoxia and to improve brain circulation in experimental animals and human beings over prolonged period (20-24 h after intranasal administration in doses 0.015-0.050 mg/kg). Semax significantly improves memory and attention in healthy men under extreme conditions of activities. Moreover at present semax is successfully used in treatment of patients with different diseases of CNS. In the majority of cases the peptide exhibited positive effects and in no case it produced negative side actions or complications connected with its administration. There is good reason to believe that medical potentialities of semax have not been exhausted and in future new possibilities of its usage will be revealed.
Therapie 2002 Mar-Apr;57(2):137-50
New drugs derived from medicinal plants.Zhang JT. Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
In China, increasing emphasis has been laid in recent years on research on natural products. About 140 new drugs have been developed from Chinese medicinal plants. For example, anisodamine possesses good effects in the treatment of septic shock and morphine addiction; 3-n-butylphthalide isolated from seeds of celery was shown to be a new cerebral anti-ischemic agent; indirubin was identified as an anti-leukemic drug with no inhibition of bone marrow; huperzine is a potent and reversible inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and its selective action is superior to that of donepezil; clausenamide was shown to be a potassium channel blocker, its nootropic effect was 50-100 times more potent than that of piracetam; bicyclol was synthesized from schizandrin C isolated from Fructus schizandrae. It has remarkable hepatoprotective and certain anti-hepatitis virus actions; salvianolic acid B is a very strong antioxidant agent with potential anti-dementia effects; yingzhaosu A and artemisinin are anti-malaria drugs containing a peroxide ring which is very rarely seen in natural substances.
Medline studies
Edited by LifeMirage, 05 April 2005 - 06:28 PM.