[Functional improvement of the aging brain: placebo controlled pharmaco-EEG and psychometric studies with a...

A double-blind, placebo-controlled pharmaco-EEG and psychometric study was carried out to investigate the encephalotropic and psychotropic properties of a metabolically active hemoderivate (Actovegin) in 10 elderly subjects with a mean age of 65 years, and to form hypotheses about its therapeutic efficacy. They received randomized and in weekly intervals single oral doses of 6 dragées (drg.) Actovegin, 9 drg. Actovegin as well as placebo. Computer-assisted spectral analysis of the EEG demonstrated an increase of alpha- and beta-activities, an acceleration of the alpha-centroid as well as of the centroid of the total activity after Actovegin as compared with placebo, while slow activities tended to decrease--specifically in the 4th and 6th hour. These neurophysiological alterations indicate an improvement in vigilance of the elderly subjects, which was reflected in the psychometric tests. The latter demonstrated in the multivariate analysis a significant superiority of Actovegin over placebo. Actovegin induced--especially after 6 drg.--an increase in critical flicker frequency, prolongation of the after-effect as evaluated by means of the Archimedean spiral, shortening of reaction time as well as cognitive improvement in the Pauli-Test. In the autonomic nervous system, the widening of the pupillary diameter and the increase in skin conductance suggested also an activation at the ANS level. Our controlled investigations demonstrate that Actovegin--even after oral administration--may produce neurophysiological and clinical effects.