Pyritinol and Phosphatidylserine
Ann. New York Acad. Sci., 1993, 695/- (327-331)
ABSTRACT
Forty patients with probable Alzheimer's
disease were selected from a pool of 80 patients and assigned to four groups.
Each received either social support, cognitive training only, or cognitive
training in combination with pyritinol or phosphatidylserine. Treatment
duration was 6 months. Before and after treatment the patients underwent
neuropsychological testing as well as measurement of the regional cerebral
metabolic rate for glucose using positron emission tomography (PET) and
2(18F)-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG). Before treatment, the groups were
comparable in respect to resting and activated glucose pattern achieved by a
visual recognition task. They did not differ in scores of a neuropsychological
test battery.
After the treatment period the group with
cognitive training plus phosphatidylserine showed a significant glucose
enhancement during the stimulation tasks in various brain regions, and an
improvement in cognitive functioning compared to other groups. The group with
cognitive training plus pyritinol had better stimulation effect than that of
the social support group, indicating that a combination of cognitive training
and pharmacological intervention was superior than that of cognitive training
alone.
