Nootropic drugs - what is it? Nootropic means. Nootropic drugs

Nootropic drugs - what kind of medicines are they? You will receive the answer to the question you asked from the article. In addition, you will learn the history of their occurrence, the principles of action, properties, indications and effects from the application.

General information

Nootropic drugs - what is it? Such medicines improve brain function, rejuvenate the body and prolong life. These are neurometabolic stimulants that exert an activating influence on learning. In addition, they noticeably improve mental activity and memory. The term "nootropic" is composed of two Greek words νους and τροπή, which in translation means "mind" and "change" respectively.

Description

Nootropic drugs have their own class in the classification of medical medicines. That's why they were combined with psychostimulants and began to treat the pharmacotherapeutic group with the following ATX code: N06BX.

History of occurrence

In 1963 Belgian pharmacologists S. Giurgea and V. Skondia synthesized the first drug from the group represented - "Piracetam". Today, such a nootropic drug is known to most patients under the name "Nootropil". Like a psychostimulant in the middle of the 20th century, he increased the mental capacity of a person and did not have any side effects.

In 1972, one of the creators of this medication was the term "nootropism" to denote groups of drugs that improve intellectual memory, learning and attention, and also affect the transcallosal potential, have antihypoxic activity and do not have a negative effect on the body.

Unlike known psychostimulants, nootropic drugs stimulate nerve cells, which in the future leads to an increase in their activity, which is quantitative, not qualitative. It should be specially noted that the effect of most of these drugs manifests itself not after the first admission, but with long-term treatment.

Newest Nootropics

At the moment, more than 10 original nootropic agents of the pyrrolidine series have been synthesized, which are in the phase of 3 clinical trials or have already been registered in a number of countries. Among such drugs can be identified "Oksiratsetam", "Nefiracetam", "Etiracetam", "Aniracetam", "Rolziratsetam", "Izacetam", "Pramiracetam", "Cebrasetam", "Dupracetam", "Detratsetam", etc. The presented medicines have The general name "Ratsetamy".

In addition to all the others, other families of nootropic agents have been synthesized, including GABAergic, cholinergic, glutamatergic and peptidergic systems. It should also be noted that the nootropic active ingredient is present in other medicines that have different chemical origins.

Operating principle

Nootropic drugs - what kind of drugs are they, and why are they prescribed? The therapeutic effect of such medicines is based on several mechanisms:

• Activation of plastic processes in the central nervous system due to protein enhancement and RNA synthesis;
• Improvement of the energy state of neurons, which is manifested in the enhancement of ATP synthesis, as well as antihypoxic and antioxidant effects;
• Improved use of glucose;
• Strengthening the processes of synaptic transmission in the central nervous system;
• Membrane stabilizing effect.

Features of preparations

The main mechanisms of such drugs are their direct influence on bioenergetics and metabolic processes in nerve cells, as well as interaction with brain systems (primarily, neurotransmitter).

It has long been proven that nootropics are able to activate adenylate cyclase and increase its concentration in the neuron. In addition, an elevated level of cyclic adenosine monophosphate leads through a change in the flux of intracellular Ca2 + and K + ions to a rapid release of the mediator from the sensory neuron.

It should also be noted that activated adenylate cyclase is able to maintain the stability of production in ATP cells without oxygen, and under hypoxic conditions, to translate the metabolism of the brain into a preserved regime.

Nootropic drugs for the elderly and children are extremely necessary to enhance their creative activity and restore the delay of intellectual development. Manufacturers of such stimulants claim that their medicines improve the exchange of nucleic acids, activate protein synthesis, ATP and RNA, penetrate well through the BBB, and also increase the rate of glucose use.

Properties of nootropes

The effect of a number of nootropic drugs is sometimes mediated through the neurotransmitter system of the brain (cholinergic, monoaminergic, glutamatergic).

According to manufacturers, nootropics are capable of providing other types of influences, among which:

• Antioxidant;
• Membrane stabilizing;
• Neuroprotective;
• Antihypoxic.

Other drug options

Nootropics are recommended for use in a comprehensive manner. This is the only way to improve bioelectric activity and integrative activity of the brain, which manifests itself in the form of characteristic changes in electrophysiological patterns (a marked increase in the level of wakefulness, as well as in the dominant peak, facilitated information flow between the brain hemispheres, and enhancement of the relative and absolute power of the EEG spectrum of the hippocampus and cortex).

Thanks to an increase in cortico-subcortical control, improved information exchange in the brain, a positive impact on reproduction and the formation of a memorable track, it can be safely asserted that such drugs lead to an increase in the ability to learn, improve memory, thinking, attention, perception, and the activation of intellectual functions .

By the way, many manufacturers say that such tools can significantly improve and accelerate cognitive (or cognitive) functions. However, these statements have not been confirmed scientifically.

Effects

According to the manufacturers, nootropic drugs have the following effects on humans:

1. Mnemotropic (affect learning and memory).
2. Nootropic (affect the level of critical abilities and judgments, as well as impaired cortical functions, improve cortical control of subcortical activity, attention, thinking and speech).
3. Adaptogenic (affect the tolerance to various factors, including drugs, increase the overall resistance of the organism to the effects of extreme factors).
4. Increase the level of clarity, consciousness, wakefulness (affect the state of darkened and oppressed consciousness).
5. Psychostimulant (affect mental inertia, hypobulia, impoverishment, apathy, aspontaneity and psychomotor retardation).
6. Anti-asthenic (affect exhaustion, lethargy, weakness, physical and mental asthenia).
7. Sedative (reduce irritability and emotional excitability).
8. Antidepressant.
9. Anticinetic.
10. Vegetative (affect dizziness, headache and cerebrosthenic syndrome).
11. Antiepileptic (affect paroxysmal epileptic activity).
12. Antiparkinsonian.
13. Power.
14. Somatotropin-stimulating (there is a release of growth hormone).
15. Hypoglycemic (reduce the concentration of glucose in the blood plasma).
16. Lipolitic (in the conditions of deficiency of glucose they start up energy in the form of fatty acids).
17. Antitoxic (remove from the body the products of vital activity and neutralize various harmful substances).
18. Anabolic.
19. Immunostimulating.

Are nootropic drugs effective for stroke prevention?

What are these medicines, we figured out. But then a new question arises about how effective they are in the treatment and prevention of strokes. It should be noted that such practice is subject to doubt. This is due to the fact that the use of nootropics for such deviations has not been confirmed by evidence-based medicine.

Clinical use

Before explaining why such drugs are used in official medicine, it should be noted that nootropic drugs without prescriptions of treating doctors are not released in pharmacies. This is due to the fact that they belong to the same drug group as the strong psychostimulants.

Initially, the drugs were used to treat brain damage in elderly people with organic brain syndrome. Although in the last few years (as a rule, in the countries of the third world) they have become quite widely used in various fields of medicine, including surgery, pediatrics, psychiatry, neurology, narcology, and obstetric and geriatric practices.

Thus, nootropic drugs are used by doctors when:

• Chronic cerebrovascular insufficiency;
• Intoxication;
• Neurosis-like and neurotic disorders;
• Dementia of various origins (senile, vascular, and also in Alzheimer's disease);
• Psycho-organic syndrome;
• Craniocerebral trauma;
• Vegetative-vascular dystonia;
• Disorders of cerebral circulation;
• Intellectual-mnestic disorders (violation of concentration of attention, memory and thinking);
• Chronic alcoholism (psycho-organic syndrome, encephalopathy, abstinence);
• Depressive, asthenic-depressive and asthenic syndromes;
• Neuroinfections;
• To improve mental work.

Indications for children

In developing countries, these funds are especially common in pediatrics. Thus, children are given nootropic drugs when:

• Mental retardation;
• Retardation of speech and mental development;
• Infantile cerebral palsy;
• Consequences of perinatal CNS damage;
• Attention deficit disorder.

Other indications for use

The best nootropic drug is the drug that has a pronounced therapeutic effect and does not negatively affect the human body. It should be noted that such tools are sometimes used when:

• Stuttering ("Pantogam", "Phenibut");
• Correction of neuroleptic syndrome ("Hopantenic acid", "Piritinol", "Deanola aceglumat", "Pantogam");
• Hyperkinesis ("Hopantenic acid", "Fenibut", "Memantine");
• Disorder of urination (Pantogam, Nicotinoyl-GABA);
• Sleep disorders (Fenibut, Calcium Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate, Glycine);
• Migraines ("Piritinol", "Nicotinoyl-GABA", "Semax");
• Dizziness ("Ginkgo biloba", "Phenibut", "Pyracetam");
• For the prevention of motion sickness ("GABA", "Fenibut").

Incidentally, in ophthalmic practice, such drugs are used in combination therapy with open-angle glaucoma, vascular retina and macular degeneration (Nicotinoyl-GABA), as well as senile macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy (Ginkgo biloba).

Natural nootropics

In addition to drugs, natural substances with similar properties are often used to obtain a therapeutic effect. Of course, natural nootropics are not as effective as pharmacological agents, but after a few weeks after use, patients still begin to notice improvement in cognitive functions, and so on.