[Quantified electroencephalogram: value in the evaluation of therapy of cerebral aging]

Computerized quantification of electroencephalograms enables pharmacological compounds designed to counteract pathological cerebral aging to be evaluated. The results obtained by this method when substances which sedate or stimulate the central nervous system are used suggest the existence of a negative correlation between neuronal activity and electroencephalographic power. More precisely, the application of this method to pharmacology suggests a relation with the activity of one or several neurotransmission systems. By extension, studies of cerebral aging may benefit from this new technique of cerebral exploration because it allows the demonstration of age related changes in the EEG effect of drugs studied in physiological conditions. Thus we have demonstrated an interaction between the almitrine-raubasine combination and the noradrenergic system in rats. In clinical pharmacology, the evaluation of these two compounds is still liable to numerous experimental biases. The almitrine-raubasine combination was tested in controlled trials in elderly people complaining of intellectual deterioration; the results obtained were fairly similar to those observed in old rats, thus demonstrating an effect on the central nervous system and perhaps also an action on the noradrenergic system in human.