Polyprenols and Alzheimer (clinical studies)
Clinical study.
The study was conducted in St. Petersburg in I.I. Skvortsov-Stepanov Psychiatric Hospital No. 3. The study included 25 persons in the age of 54 to 78 years with Alzheimer's disease, who were given polyprenols during 3-4 months. In 40% of patients had an expressed improvement in cognitive functions by all the indicators. The disease passed from a severe form to a milder one in 48%. Improvement in the neurological status were in 25% of patients, and the parkinsonian syndrome on the average decreased by 5 points on the scale of parkinsonism within 1 month, which is a good prognostic factor in the treatment of this disease.
Sultanov V.S.1
Roshchin V.I.2
Agishev V.G.3
Monakhova I.А.3
Kulikov A.P.3
Nikitina T.V.
Solagran Limited, Melbourne, Australia
S.M. Kirov Academy of Forestry Engineering in Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg, Russia
I.I. Skvortsov-Stepanov City Psychiatric Hospital No. 3, Saint Petersburg, Russia
I.M. Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Introduction
In developed countries, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the main cause of senile dementia in persons of the middle and old age. With the ageing of the human civilization and increasing life times, AD is becoming a serious problem. It is supposed that the level of acetylcholine is regulated not only by the enzyme of acetylcholinesterase (ACHE), the lack of which is observed in AD, but also by the enzyme of butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), whose presence is revealed in senile plaques, fibrillary glomeruli and vascular walls (in the case of amyloid angiopathy). A lack of adrenergic pulses in AD directly correlates with the development and manifestation of depression, which leads to a three-time increase of activity of monoamine oxidase (MAO). On this basis, preparations of double action – inhibitors of ACHE and BuChE, as well as inhibitors of ACHE and MAO for the treatment of AD – are being sought in the world. The search for new medications with the minimal side effect is an actual problem for the treatment of various neurodegenerative diseases, because the synthesized substances are toxic and cannot be applied for a long time.
Study Purpose
To study the action of the polyprenolic preparation (PP) made of conifer needles for the treatment of dementias of the Alzheimer type against the background of vascular injury of the brain.
Methods
In developed countries, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the main cause of senile dementia in persons of the middle and old age. With the ageing of the human civilization and increasing life times, AD is becoming a serious problem. It is supposed that the level of acetylcholine is regulated not only by the enzyme of acetylcholinesterase (ACHE), the lack of which is observed in AD, but also by the enzyme of butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), whose presence is revealed in senile plaques, fibrillary glomeruli and vascular walls (in the case of amyloid angiopathy). A lack of adrenergic pulses in AD directly correlates with the development and manifestation of depression, which leads to a three-time increase of activity of monoamine oxidase (MAO). On this basis, preparations of double action – inhibitors of ACHE and BuChE, as well as inhibitors of ACHE and MAO for the treatment of AD – are being sought in the world. The search for new medications with the minimal side effect is an actual problem for the treatment of various neurodegenerative diseases, because the synthesized substances are toxic and cannot be applied for a long time. Study Purpose To study the action of the polyprenolic preparation (PP) made of conifer needles for the treatment of dementias of the Alzheimer type against the background of vascular injury of the brain. Methods A clinical study was conducted in I.I. Skvortsov-Stepanov Psychiatric Hospital No. 3 in 25 patients aged 54 to 78 years. The average disease duration was 1.5 years. The course of treatment with the preparation was 3-4 months, PP was given in the dose of 144 mg per day. Somatic therapy was mainly carried out during the treatment. To assess the effect of the preparation, the international scale of cognitive disorders MMSE, a unified scale of assessment of parkinsonism, data of electroencephalography (EEG), biochemical indices of blood and urine, activity of BuChE and MAO were used. Before treatment, 12% of patients had mild dementia, 36% - moderate, 32% - moderately severe, 20% - severe, to whom the preparation was given during 4 months.
Study Results
The results showed the effectiveness of action of PP on cognitive functions: significant improvement in cognitive functions was observed in 40% of patients by all the indicators. 48% of patients had a less pronounced effect in terms of the psychosomatic status, but positive dynamics in terms of the severity of dementia, that decreased, passing from a more severe form to a milder one. In 12% of cases, improvement of cognitive functions was not observed in patients taking PP. The status of the patients, from the data of EEG, improved in 80% of the patients, which was expressed in the disappearance of delta waves and paroxysms, the appearance of a-rhythm and the disappearance of a local accent in the frontal-and-temporal region. The medication of PP has a normalizing effect on the activity of BuChE and MAO the blood serum. Improvement in the neurological status was in 25% of the patients, and the parkinsonian syndrome on the average decreased by 5 points on the scale of parkinsonism within a month, which is a good prognostic factor in the treatment of this disease.
Conclusion
Based on the obtained data, it was concluded that the preparation of PP is promising in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases of the Alzheimer type. (Published in the proceedings of the 2nd Conference of the Russian Association of Psychoneuroendocrinology (RAPNE), Moscow, 2010)
The text of the study is provided by courtesy of Solagran.