Polyprenols in the therapy of neurological and mental disorders

Preclinical study.

Polyprenols are natural predecessors of dolichols that are the most important bioregulators present in almost all tissues and biological environments of the organism. A lot of dolichols are contained in some divisions of the brain. The ability of polyprenols to serve as dolichols, making up for their deficit, is indispensable in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. This is proved by a whole number of clinical studies that were carried out for several years in different clinics of Russia.

Vladimir Borisovich Trusov, clinical psychotherapist, a member of the Professional Psychotherapy League of Russia, Director of the Medical Department of "Solagran San" LLC Tomsk Medical Conference "Healthy Generation of the 21st Century. Innovations in Practice", Moscow, 2013. Dolichols are present in almost all tissues and biological environments of the organism in the form of phosphorylated and etherified compounds.

The high content of dolichols is also present in some divisions of the brain: in the substantia nigra of the brain, hypophysis, hypothalamus.

Now there is new evidence that one of the lipids of the myelin sheath of the nerves is dolichol. It was found in the substantia nigra of the brain in the neuromelanin, with its content being fairly high — up to 15%. Usually proteins dominate in the membranes, but, in the case of the myelin sheath of the nerves, lipids can be three fourths of the mass. The excretion of dolichol can be five or more times higher in alcoholism, degenerative diseases of the brain and other pathological states. It is known from official data that the study of pathological changes in 10 areas of the brain in patients with neurodegenerative diseases showed that the content of dolichols decreases by 20-50%. In addition, in acute states the content of dolichols can decrease by 50%. The studies conducted in the 2000s found that the influence of polyprenols in the making up for dolichols is through the psycho-activation and through the important transmission system – the dopamine system. In addition, the energy action of dolichols was proved. Experimental studies in animals in order to study the impact of polyprenols on various divisions of the brain were carried out in Moscow in the early 2000s. The results of the study identified a protective restorative effect of polyprenols on the brain in the toxic injury of the organism with carbon tetrachloride. And it was associated with both the membrane structure restoration and the influence on the activity of key enzymes (acetylcholinesterase, butyrylcholinesterase, monoamine oxidase, etc.) due to changes in the viscosity of the lipid bilayer of membranes.

. Tests of a polyprenolic preparation in 90 patients with chronic alcoholism in the age of 17 to 74 with the duration of the disease of 3 to 20 years were carried out in I.I. Skvortsov-Stepanov Psychiatric Hospital No. 3 in St. Petersburg in 2006. The control group was 30 persons; the treatment was carried out in compliance with the international standards for the treatment of alcohol abstinence syndrome: disintoxication, group B vitamins, nootropics, cerebral protectants, anti-depressants. In the experimental group there were 60 persons who received a polyprenolic medication. The results of the study showed the clinical efficacy of polyprenols in patients with chronic alcoholism. The result of the treatment with a medication of polyprenols was clear, fast and statistically significant changes in patients with psychosomatic, neurological and functional disorders. As a result of the treatment, the arresting of the alcohol abstinence syndrome in the experimental group took place on the fifth-seventh day, whereas in the control group it took place on the 14th-21st day. Such symptoms as headache, vertigo, palpitation, a sense of lack of air, nausea, a feeling of fever or chills, excessive sweatiness, distal tremor were quickly arrested. The affective state of the patients significantly improved: tearfulness, irritability, a liability to affective bursts decreased, improved sleep was observed. Full reduction without the use of antidepressants was observed in six patients with anxiety-depression symptoms. The mood background improved in patients receiving the medication of polyprenols: improvement was observed in 64.3% of the patients. In the treatment with polyprenols, a complete reduction of all depressive symptoms, an expressed mood improvement were observed in 80% of patients.

Almost all the patients participating in the study were diagnosed with toxic encephalopolyneuropathy (95%, 57 persons of 60 patients). Quick and clear regression of symptoms of polyneuropathy of limbs within 15 days was observed. Even after the treatment with polyprenols was completed, the severity of polyneuropathy continued to decline gradually:

• 76.6% of the patients experienced improvement of the state from very severe to medium;
• a complete reduction of the polyneuropathy symptoms was observed in 10% of patients.

The study identified pronounced differences in the dynamics of normalization of the bioelectric activity. Thus, positive dynamics on EEG was observed in 66% of persons of the main group and only in 23.5% of the control group. Improvement of the encephalogram was the strengthening of alpha rhythm and the disappearance or reduction of symptoms of vascular instability.

Studies of patients with Alzheimer's disease were also conducted in Skvortsov-Stepanov Psychiatric Clinic (St. Petersburg). The results of the study showed the ability of polyprenols to restore the lost cognitive function anew. In 2010, a pilot clinical study of the efficacy and safety of the polyprenolic medication in the treatment of a current mild or moderate episode of depression was held in Research Institute of Mental Health of Tomsk Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (Tomsk). Six patients (two men and four women) were a group for clinical trial.

As a result of the trial, the following facts were revealed: • maximum effect (50% improvement) develops within two weeks of daily administration;
• catamnesis after completion of the therapy course ranged from 1 to 3 months, a clinical remission persisted in 5 out of 6 patients;
• 100% responding with the clinically insignificant side effects;
• a better tolerability profile than that of tricyclic antidepressants;
• a tolerability profile has a number of advantages compared with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors;
• safe in overdosing;
• lack of drug interactions.

A study on the effects of polyprenols in treating liver cirrhoses in combination with polyneuropathy and encephalopathy was conducted at the Chair of Gastroenterology of "Training-and-Science Medical Center" Federal State Institution of the Administration of Affairs of the President of the Russian Federation in 2011.

The study found that the treatment with polyprenols is accompanied with a decrease in severity of symptoms of encephalopathy and polyneuropathy with reliable improvement of the neurological status of the patients. A reliable improvement in the quality of life in the form of growth of life activity was also observed.