Horizontal component of electro-oculogram as a parameter of arousal in dementia: relationship between intellectual improvement and increasing arousal under pharmacotherapy.
Although nootropics and metabolically active compounds sometimes attenuate intellectual deficits of dementia patients, this mechanism has not been discussed or investigated. The authors hypothesized that these compounds act to enhance attention and/or concentration by increasing the arousal level, and then improve intellectual functions. Based on this hypothesis, the authors investigated the arousal level and the improvement of intellectual functions in ten patients with Alzheimer type dementia and ten patients with multi-infarct dementia before and after 3 months pharmacotherapy using bifemelane hydrochloride. They then analyzed whether the increases in arousal level involves or relates to the improvement of intellectual functions. On the 20 patients, psychological tests were carried out, and the arousal level was evaluated using the frequency of rapid eye movements in the electro-oculogram (EOG) before and after 3 months administration of bifemelane hydrochloride. As a result, a significant positive correlation was observed between the improvement on the Hasegawa's dementia scale and the rate of increase in rapid eye movements in the EOG. The EOG monitoring can be a great help in establishing an objective evaluation method on drug efficacy.
Shigeta
M
M
Department of Psychiatry, Tokyo Jikei University School of Medicine, Japan.
Nishikawa
Y
Y
Shimizu
M
M
Usui
M
M
Hyoki
K
K
Kawamuro
Y
Y
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001143:Arousal / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D001559:Benzhydryl Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015161:Dementia, Multi-Infarct / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004585:Electrooculography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D001559:Benzhydryl Compounds; C031906:bifemelane