Aniracetam: a new nootropic agent for senile dementia
Senile dementia includes a range of diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia, and vascular dementia. Although these diseases have different causes, they share similar symptoms. Common senile dementia symptoms include loss of language, memory, and cognitive ability. Since many people experience the occasional lapse of memory or inability to think of a word, a doctor will usually only diagnose a patient with some form of dementia if the patient displays multiple senile dementia symptoms.
Perhaps the most recognized of all senile dementia symptoms is memory loss. A person in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease may occasionally forget where he or she is or whom he or she is talking to. Memory problems worsen as Alzheimer's progresses. A patient in the later stages of the disease may forget to perform daily tasks, such as taking medication. Alternatively, he or she may remember to take his or her medicine but not recall taking it already that day.
Loss of language ability and the ability to make judgments are other senile dementia symptoms. In an emergency or other situation where quick thinking is required, a person suffering from dementia may seem uncertain about what to do. He or she may also have difficulty remembering words or difficulty expressing him- or herself verbally. As the disease progresses, language problems may extend to not being able to understand directions or recipes or not being able to perform simple arithmetic.
Aniracetam appears to positively modulate metabotropic glutamate receptors and
alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA)-sensitive glutamate receptors, and may facilitate cholinergic transmission.
Forty-four patients with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type were randomly allocated into double-blind treatment with either aniracetam (RO 13-5057) 1 g or placebo daily for 3 months. Neurological examinations were made before and after treatment and psychometric tests were performed before and after 1 month's and after 3 month's treatment. Treatment was interrupted due to occurrence of confusion in four cases in the aniracetam group and in one case in the placebo group. During treatment, an improvement was seen in several cognitive tests, especially those associated with memory, but this improvement occurred in the placebo as well as in the aniracetam-treated group. In clinical evaluation no difference was seen in efficacy between the two treatment groups.
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