http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7342 (http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7342)
New drug offers jitter-free mental boost
11:29 05 May 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Alison Motluk
A new class of drug may increase alertness without any of the jitteriness of over-stimulation, suggest the results of a small clinical trial released this week.
A compound dubbed CX717, a member of the new class called ampakines, significantly improved performance on tests of memory, attention, alertness, reaction time and problem solving in healthy men deprived of sleep.
The study was carried out by Julia Boyle at the Sleep Research Centre at the University of Surrey, UK, and her colleagues on behalf of Cortex Pharmaceuticals Inc., based in Irvine, California, US.
During the trial, 16 healthy young males were randomly assigned to take either 100 milligrams, 300 mg or 1000 mg of the drug, or given a placebo. By the end of the experiment, each volunteer had been assigned to all of the experimental groups, thus producing his own control scores.
The volunteers were hooked up to EEGs to measure brain wave activity and were put through a battery of tests. The first round of each session was after a good night’s sleep. Thereafter, they were tested every few hours throughout a sleepless night and into the next morning, during a total of 27 hours without rest.
The researchers found that the drug significantly improved performance on tests. And taking more of the drug improved performance for longer.
Short half-life
Ampakines work by binding to particular receptors in the brain, called AMPA-type glutamate receptors. This boosts the activity of glutamate, a neurotransmitter, and makes it easier to encode memory and to learn. And because of their short half-life - hours in this case - ampakines have few side effects.
The drug, which will have to undergo further clinical trials before being approved, is being considered as a possible treatment for narcolepsy, jet lag, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and even Alzheimer’s disease.
But it clearly has effects in the healthy population as well. “It generates a state of cortical wakefulness without stimulation,†says Gary Lynch at the University of California at Irvine, who invented ampakines.
Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, US, sees no particular problem with people using such a drug to combat age-related memory loss. “Stimulating your brain with a reminder on a handheld digital device doesn’t seem that different to me from stimulating your brain with a drug,†he says.
Cool. As an occasional user of adrafinil (and someone who chronically doesn't get enough sleep) I'm always interested in hearing more about utilitarian stimulants (as opposed to recreational stimulants).
Wonder what the side effects are.
Oh hey, now that adrafinil sounds interesting.......... what tiny bit I just dug up on it. Whats the skinny on that?
Adrafinil is technically a CNS stimulant, but it's not really a stimulant so much as an "anti-fatigue" drug. Apparently it's very specific in where/how it acts in the brain, so there are less side effects than other stimulants. This means no euphoria, no energy, no amped-up feeling at all (it'd be pointless to try to use it recreationally)--- only when you're tired, it makes you less so. Taking it after a couple hours of sleep makes you feel pretty normal, like you just got plenty of sleep. If you've been up for a long time and are nodding, it will wake you up. I've seen it suggested that it's a smart drug, but I honestly think it's just hype. I've never noticed any real side effects from occasional use (a single dose once or twice a month). Probably not a great idea to use it regularly.
Perhaps you've heard of modafinil (Provigilâ,,¢ or Alertecâ,,¢) as well? That's a superior drug similar in activity to adrafinil, but more potent and (I think) even less side effects, not that I've noticed any real side effects with adrafinil. But you need a prescription for modafinil; it's schedule IV in the U.S.--- prescribed for narcolepsy and other sleep disorders, but apparently prescribed off-label all the time. Plus, it's damned expensive. Adrafinil, however, is not regulated (or sold) in the U.S., so you can import it pretty easily and cheaply.
The glutamate-systems affects a lot in the brain but should be very interresting. Probably we will also see AD medicins using it as the knowledge about it increase.
read the same article yesterday, was guna write it u but avery beat me to it :D
very interesting developement i do agree, esp w/ the promise of a drug u can take when u need to, that is safe and effective, or i am thinking for parents up 1/2 the night w/ a new born, stil haveing to go to work and be on thier a-game...
I don't know, I've heard so many promising reports of drugs with "no side effects" that turned out to have really nasty side effects. When heroin first came out, it was touted as a cure for morphine addiction and wasn't supposed to be addictive itself. Then methadone came along and they said it got users off heroin, didn't get them high and wasn't addictive. All those claims turned out to be false. Granted this is a totally different type of drug but are there really any drugs with no side effects?
I wouldn't mind trying it if the reports continue to be positive. It might be good for certain activities in which it's important to be alert. Taking tests, studying, playing poker, playing competitive sports or games, those are some possible areas. I bet after a while when it's been used and abused, we will hear about the cx717 problem and how can we get rid of this plague.
I've read that the U.S. military regularly pump up the jet jocks with adrafanil... Article I read a few months ago leads one to to impression that the military thinks it is the best thing to come down the pike since the first Gulf War............... 'Course the term military intelligence has always struck me as being a bit of an aximoron eh :lol: ---------- senorsal
I got free prescription provigil, but I save the pills for emergency uses, when long periods of alertness are required, which so far rarely happens in my routine little life. I like sleep!