title: [Drug evaluation of huperzine A in the treatment of senile memory disorders].
abstract: Huperzine A is an alkaloid which was first isolated from Huperzia serrata (Thumb) Trev by Zhejiang Academy of Medical Sciences and Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences. It exhibits a significant anticholinesterase activity and has been used on myasthenia gravis patients. The therapeutic effects were studied by random, match and double-blind method on 56 patients of multi-infarct dementia or senile dementia and 104 patients of senile and presenile simple memory disorders. The curative effects were evaluated by Wechsler memory scale. The im dose for multi-infarct dementia was 0.05 mg bid for 4 wk, whereas that for senile and presenile simple memory disorders was 0.03 mg bid for 2 wk. Saline was used on control group. The result showed that the curative effect of huperzine A was significant. Only a few patients felt slight dizziness and this did not affect the therapeutic effects.
authors.affiliation: Zhejiang Academy of Medical Sciences, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: X C
authors.initials: XC
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Y Y
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: G W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Sang
authors.forename: Y D
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Y X
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000470:Alkaloids; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003704:Dementia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015161:Dementia, Multi-Infarct / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; C050426:huperzine A