Pharmaco-EEG study on vincamine and on teproside in patients with chronic cerebrovascular disease

Pharmaco-EEG is a technique used in diagnostic and in neuropharmacological research. Correlations between the ageing brain and EEG spectral analysis have been discovered (1-5). Typical EEG findings of multi-infarct dementia, senile dementia and chronic cerebrovascular disease have been reported by several authors. Using this methodology, it is possible to know if a drug crosses the blood brain barrier, the period of drug action and the drug-induced enhancement or inhibition of cerebral bioelectrical activity. It is also possible to ascertain the pharmacological class of a drug through a comparison between it and another that is well known. The authors have studied the pharmaco-EEG effects of teproside and vincamine in two groups of subjects affected by chronic cerebrovascular disease. The first group (8 patients, mean age 58.3 years) were treated with vincamine 15 mg i.v. EEG spectral analysis was performed using a Hewlett-Packard 5423 A analyser with centro-occipital derivations. EEG registrations were executed by using an epoch of 5 min at times- 15, 0, +15, +45, +60, and +120 min with drug administration at zero time. In a chronic study, after a three day wash-out period, teproside 240 mg/os/day was administered to the first group, while vincamine 60 mg/os/day and 120 mg/os/day was administered to the second group. Subjects were studied with EEG spectral analysis by using the same methodology at baseline and after 10 and 20 days of treatment. The two drugs induced an enhancement of cerebral bioelectrical activity by an improvement of alpha waves mean relative power, by a shifting toward rapid rhythms of dominant frequency and by a decrease of delta and theta waves mean relative power. With the dosages used teproside appeared to be more active than vincamine.