Posted 06 April 2005 - 03:21 AM
Smart Drugs In Young Healthy People & Healthy Adults
Vasopressin In Memory & Learning
Peptides 1995;16(2):179-86
Effect of acute and chronic treatment with desglycinamide-[Arg8]vasopressin in young male and female volunteers.
Bruins J, Hijman R, Van Ree JM. Department of Pharmacology, Rudolf Magnus Institute, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
A single dose of DGAVP (2 mg) and a chronic treatment of 2 weeks (1 mg/day) were given to male and female volunteers by the intranasal route. Memory, mood, vigilance, and attention were tested starting 60 min after treatment. Initial storage of abstract words was improved in the males but not in the females after chronic treatment with DGAVP. This effect persisted after discontinuation of treatment. Initial storage and learning of concrete words were not affected by treatment with DGAVP. Chronic, but not acute, treatment with DGAVP reduced the reaction time for scanning of digits in a memory comparison task (Sternberg paradigm) in both sexes. No treatment effects were found for visual memory, vigilance, attention, mood, or blood pressure. The present study indicates a sexual dimorphism in the effect of DGAVP on certain memory processes.
Peptides 1992 May-Jun;13(3):461-8
Effect of a single dose of des-glycinamide-[Arg8]vasopressin or oxytocin on cognitive processes in young healthy subjects.
Bruins J, Hijman R, Van Ree JM. Department of Psychiatry, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
A single dose of des-glycinamide-[Arg8]vasopressin (DGAVP, 2 mg intranasal) or oxytocin (OXT, 20 IU intranasal) was given to female and male volunteers, respectively, in a placebo-controlled double-blind trial. Memory, vigilance, attention, and mood were tested starting 10 minutes after treatment. The DGAVP dose improved delayed recognition of abstract words when measured 1 week after treatment and reduced the intercept of a memory comparison task (Sternberg paradigm). A trend was present for DGAVP and OXT to affect learning, i.e., storage processes of verbal memory in an opposite way; DGAVP improved, while OXT attenuated initial storage and the rate of storage. No treatment effects on visual memory and vigilance were found. Of the mood measures, vigor was reduced immediately after treatment with OXT.
Neuropsychobiology 1990;23(2):82-8
Influence of desglycinamide-(arg8) vasopressin on memory in healthy subjects.
Bruins J, Kumar A, Schneider-Helmert D. Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
In 12 healthy student volunteers the influence on memory, attention and mood of a single dose of 2 mg of the vasopressin analog, desglycinamide-(arg8) vasopressin (DGAVP), given by the nasal route was investigated. On day 1 all subjects received placebo (single-blind), 1 week later they were given either DGAVP or placebo (double-blind). Memory effects were measured with the Buschke restrictive reminding method. DGAVP significantly improved storage processes, with retrieval processes less affected. Attention and mood processes were not influenced. It is suggested that DGAVP has an influence on memory processes.
Peptides 1988 Nov-Dec;9(6):1361-6
Effects of DGAVP on verbal memory.
Pietrowsky R, Fehm-Wolfsdorf G, Born J, Fehm HL. Angewandte Physiologie and Innere Medizin I, Universitat Ulm, FRG.
Effects of DGAVP (desglycinamide-arginine-vasopressin, a synthetic vasopressin analog) on verbal memory were investigated in 13 healthy male volunteers. Ten word lists, each consisting of 15 words, were presented to the subjects who had to recall them according to a free recall paradigm. The total number of recalled words was not different between DGAVP and placebo treatment; but DGAVP had an effect on memory performance depending on the serial position of the words. It attenuated the primacy effect and enhanced the recency effect of memory performance. The pattern of changes after DGAVP may be consistent with an effect of the peptide on general arousal. Since the experiment was not designed to test influences of DGAVP on arousal, these considerations remain tentative.
Psychopharmacology (Berl) 1987;92(2):224-8
Does DGAVP influence memory, attention and mood in young healthy men?
Snel J, Taylor J, Wegman M.
The influence of an increasing dose of the vasopressin-like peptide DGAVP (desglycinamide-arginine-vasopressin) on memory was investigated in 2 groups of 10 healthy male volunteers to provide information about the hypothesis of improvement of memory by vasopressin. At the same time we evaluated the effect of DGAVP on mood, alertness or sleepiness in a double-blind placebo-control design. The treatment group received at 9.15 a.m. intranasally a daily increasing dose from 0.1 mg at day 1 to 10.0 mg at day 5. DGAVP did not significantly affect any measure of memory or alertness. DGAVP did, however, produce a significant increase in concentration level and mood. The results of the present study provide no support for the vasopressin theory of memory improvement; rather, the results direct the attention-to-attention modulating effects.
Peptides 1984 Jul-Aug;5(4):819-22
Vasopressin analog (DDAVP) improves memory in human males.
Beckwith BE, Till RE, Schneider V.
One specific analog of arginine vasopressin, 1-desamine-8-D-arginine vasopressin (DDAVP), has been shown to improve learning and memory in humans. Healthy young male adult subjects treated with DDAVP demonstrated better memory for implicational sentences than did control subjects. The same treatment had no influence on women given the same memory task. These results suggest that DDAVP may have a sexually dimorphic effect on learning and memory.
Huperzine A In Healthy Young Adults
Zhongguo Yao Li Xue Bao. 1999 Jul;20(7):601-3.
Huperzine-A capsules enhance memory and learning performance in 34 pairs of matched adolescent students.
Sun QQ, Xu SS, Pan JL, Guo HM, Cao WQ. Xiaoshan Mental Hospital, Zhejiang, China.
AIM: To study the efficacy of huperzine-A capsules (Hup) on memory and learning performance of adolescent students. METHODS: Using double-blind and matched pair method, 34 pairs of junior middle school students complaining of memory inadequacy were divided into two groups by normal psychological health inventory (PHI), similar memory quotient (MQ), same sex and class. The Hup group was administrated orally 2 capsules of Hup (each contains Hup 50 micrograms) b.i.d., and the placebo group was given 2 capsules of placebo (starch and lactose inside) b.i.d. for 4 wk. RESULTS: At the end of trial, the Hup group's MQ (115 +/- 6) was more than that of the placebo group (104 +/- 9, P < 0.01), and the scores of Chinese language lesson in the Hup group were elevated markedly too. CONCLUSION: The Hup capsules enhance the memory and learning performance of adolescent students.
Vinpocetine In Healthy People
Drug Develop Res 1988; 14: 191-3
Possible Memory-Enhancing Properties of Vinpocetine
Donna M. Coleston and Ian Hindrnarch - Human Psychopharmacology Research Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, England.
Critical flicker fusion threshold, choice reaction time, total reaction time, and Sternberg-type memory tasks of digits/words were measured in 12 volunteers after having received vinpocetine or placebo for 2 days. A significant improvement was recorded in the short-term memory test following 40 mg of the drug when compared to placebo.
Eur J Clin Pharmacol 1985;28(5):567-71
Psychopharmacological effects of vinpocetine in normal healthy volunteers.
Subhan Z, Hindmarch I
12 healthy female volunteers received pre-treatments with vinpocetine 10, 20, 40 mg and placebo (t.d.s.) for 2 days according to a randomized, double-blind crossover design. On the third day of treatment and 1 h following morning dosage, subjects completed a battery of psychological tests including Critical Flicker Fusion (CFF), Choice Reaction Time (CRT), Subjective Ratings of Drug Effects (LARS) and a Sternberg Memory Scanning Test. No statistically significant changes from placebo were observed on CFF, CRT or subjective ratings of drug effects. However, memory as assessed using the Sternberg technique was found to be significantly improved following treatment with vinpocetine 40 mg when compared to placebo and results suggested a localized effect of the drug on the serial comparison stage of the reaction process.
Glycine In Healthy Young Adults
J 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.
Piracetam In Healthy People
Clin Neurophysiol 2001 Feb;112(2):275-9
Piracetam affects facilitatory I-wave interaction in the human motor cortex.
Wischer S, Paulus W, Sommer M, Tergau F. Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, University of Goettingen, Robert-Koch-Strasse 40, D-37075, Goettingen, Germany.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate by means of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) the effect of a single oral dose of the GABA derivate piracetam on intracortical facilitatory I-wave interaction. METHODS: The study was performed in 8 healthy volunteers. Before, 1, 3, 6, and 24 h after intake of 4000 mg piracetam, MEPs in the relaxed abductor digiti minimi muscle were elicited by a recently introduced double pulse TMS technique with a suprathreshold first and a subthreshold second stimulus. From interstimulus intervals of 0.5-5.1 ms 3 periods were observed in which MEP facilitation showed maxima - so-called peaks of I-wave interaction - and which were separated by two troughs with no facilitation. We studied the changes in timing and size of the peaks over time. RESULTS: With piracetam, I-wave peaks showed a reduction in size as well as a shortening of the latencies at which the peaks occurred. Both changes were significant at 6 h after drug intake compared to baseline. The effects were partially reversible after 24 h. CONCLUSIONS: The mode of action of piracetam within the nervous system is almost unknown. The peak size reduction was similar to effects that were seen under GABAergic drugs, although GABAergic properties of piracetam have not been observed so far. Shortening of the I-wave peak latencies is a new phenomenon. The results are discussed on the basis of the known therapeutic effects of piracetam in cortical myoclonus and as nootropic agent.
Int J Psychophysiol 1999 Oct;34(1):81-7
Single-dose piracetam effects on global complexity measures of human spontaneous multichannel EEG.
Kondakor I, Michel CM, Wackermann J, Koenig T, Tanaka H, Peuvot J, Lehmann D. The KEY Institute for Brain-Mind Research, University Hospital of Psychiatry, Zurich, Switzerland.
Global complexity of 47-channel resting electroencephalogram (EEG) of healthy young volunteers was studied after intake of a single dose of a nootropic drug (piracetam, Nootropil UCB Pharma) in 12 healthy volunteers. Four treatment levels were used: 2.4, 4.8, 9.6 g piracetam and placebo. Brain electric activity was assessed through Global Dimensional Complexity and Global Omega-Complexity as quantitative measures of the complexity of the trajectory of multichannel EEG in state space. After oral ingestion (1-1.5 h), both measures showed significant decreases from placebo to 2.4 g piracetam. In addition, Global Dimensional Complexity showed a significant return to placebo values at 9.6 g piracetam. The results indicate that a single dose of piracetam dose-dependently affects the spontaneous EEG in normal volunteers, showing effects at the lowest treatment level. The decreased EEG complexity is interpreted as increased cooperativity of brain functional processes.
Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 1993 Mar;86(3):193-8
Global dimensional complexity of multi-channel EEG indicates change of human brain functional state after a single dose of a nootropic drug.
Wackermann J, Lehmann D, Dvorak I, Michel CM. Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Viewing the multi-channel EEG as a sequence of momentary field maps corresponds to the concept of a trajectory in K-dimensional state space (K = number of channels). This approach permits a quantitative, single value measure of complexity of the brain state trajectory, the global correlation dimension that describes the ensemble characteristics of all recorded channels. In 5 normal volunteers, 4 records of 16-channel resting EEG were obtained during each of 4 randomized sessions (double blind design) after a single dose of placebo or 2.9 g or 4.8 g or 9.6 g piracetam. The global correlation dimension of a 40 sec epoch from each record was estimated, using 50 computational runs with 8192 point pairs. The results were combined for the two intermediate doses and averaged over repeated records. The dimensionality decreased from placebo (median = 5.89) to low dose (median = 5.72) to high dose (median = 5.59), significant in a Friedman ANOVA at P < 0.02, with significant differences between placebo vs. high and low vs. high dose. Thus, the subtle change of brain global functional state after a single dose of piracetam is reflected by the non-linear measure of global dimensional complexity of the multi-channel EEG.
Neuropsychobiology 1993;28(4):212-21
Single doses of piracetam affect 42-channel event-related potential microstate maps in a cognitive paradigm.
Michel CM, Lehmann D. Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
We examined whether a single administration of piracetam produces dose-dependent effects on brain functions in healthy young men. In 6 subjects, 42-channel event-related EEG potential maps (ERP) were recorded during a task requiring subjects to watch single digits presented in a pseudorandom order on a screen and to press a button after all triplets of three consecutive odd or even digits. The ERP maps to the three digits of the correctly detected triplets were analyzed in terms of their mapped ERP field configuration (landscape). Different landscapes of the maps indicate different configuration of the activated neural population and therefore reflect different functional microstates of the brain. In order to identify these microstates, adaptive segmentation of the map series based on their landscapes was done. Nineteen time segments were found. These segments were tested for direct effects on brain function of three single doses of piracetam (2.9, 4.8 or 9.6 g) and a placebo given double-blind in balanced order. Piracetam mainly affected the map landscape of the time segments following the triplet's last digit. U-shaped dose-dependent effects were found; they were strongest after 4.8 g piracetam. Since these particular ERP segments are recognized to be strongly correlated to cognitive functions, the present findings suggest that single medium doses of piracetam selectively activate differently located or oriented neurons during cognitive steps of information processing.
Psychopharmacology (Berl) 1976 Sep 29;49(3):307-9
Increase in the power of human memory in normal man through the use of drugs.
Dimond SJ, Brouwers EM.
Nootropyl (Piracetam) a drug reported to facilitate learning in animals was tested for its effect on man by administering it to normal volunteers. The subjects were given 3x4 capsules at 400 mg per day, in a double blind study. Each subject learned series of words presented as stimuli upon a memory drum. No effects were observed after 7 days but after 14 days verbal learning had significantly increased.
Acta Psychiatr Scand 1976 Aug;54(2):150-60
Piracetam-induced improvement of mental performance. A controlled study on normally aging individuals.
Mindus P, Cronholm B, Levander SE, Schalling D.
A double-blind, intra-individual cross-over comparison of the mental performance of 18 aging, non-deteriorated individuals during two 4-week periods of piracetam (1-acetamide-2-pyrrolidone) and placebo administration was performed using conventional and computerized perceptual-motor tasks. In a majority of these tasks the subjects did significantly better when on piracetam than on placebo, a finding consistent with ratings completed by two independent observers. The findings indicate new avenues for the treatment of individuals with reduced mental performance possibly related to disturbed alertness--a neglected group of psychiatric conditions.
Pyritinol In Healthy People
Neuropsychobiology 1990-91;24(3):159-64
Psychopharmacological effects of pyritinol in normal volunteers.
Hindmarch I, Coleston DM, Kerr JS. HPRU, Robens Institute, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
12 healthy male volunteers received pyritinol 600 or 1,200 mg or placebo for 3 days according to a randomised, double-blind crossover design. On the 1st and 3rd days of each of the 3 treatment periods subjects completed a battery of psychological tests including Critical Flicker Fusion (CFFT), Choice Reaction Time (CRT), tests of memory and subjective drug effects at 1, 2, 4 and 6 h after dosing. Significant improvements in CFFT and CRT were found after pyritinol. There were no significant differences on the other tests; however, the observed enhancement in performance could be attributed to the effect of the drug.
