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ANTI-AGING
DRUGS AND SUPPLEMENTS |
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5.2
DRUGS WITH CONTROVERSIAL
OR UNPROVEN ANTI-AGING EFFECT (side-effects) |
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Gerovital - is an anti-aging drug, already known as
Gerovital-H3, it's main ingredient - procaine. This
famous drug was discovered by Professor Aslan Ana
of Romania. Procaine improves cell metabolism, concentration,
memory, well-being, improves skin and hair condition.
Below you find a list of scientific abstracts about
Gerovital.
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A patient with rhabdomyolysis
and transient renal failure due to auto injection of
the procaine containing drug "Gerovital" is
described. This case illustrates the hazards of self-regulated
alternative treatment.
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Siilinjarvi Rehabilitation Centre,
Finland.
Gerovital was compared with placebo
and another procaine preparation in a double blind study
of 88 rehabilitation patients suffering from back or
hip disease. In an open part of the study procaine from
intramuscularly injected Gerovital disappeared from
the plasma within 15-30 minutes. In patients treated
with Gerovital or another procaine no clinical, physiological
or psychological benefits were found in addition to
the improvements following rehabilitation compared with
placebo treatment. Clinical examination showed that
the benefits of rehabilitation were similar in patients
receiving Gerovital, another procaine and placebo.
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University of Cluj-Napoca, Department
of Biology, Romania.
Intravenous injection of Gerovital
H3 and procaine (20 mg/kg b.w.) into white Wistar rats
anaesthetized with nembutal (40 mg/kg b.w.) produces
a constant decrease of the wave frequency, more visible
at the level of the lateral hypothalamus, but also present
in the midbrain reticular formation (the two subcortical
nervous structures studied). The wave amplitude is also
decreased, especially in the lateral hypothalamus, but
the differences gradually recover, a fact more visible
in the case of Gerovital H3. Aslavital has similar effects
on the wave amplitude, whereas the changes produced
in the wave frequency are generally more superficial
and transitory. Moreover, the frequency variations in
the reticular formation are opposite to those observed
in the lateral hypothalamus (i.e., an increase instead
of a decrease). Direct intrahypothalamic administration
of the drugs (16 micrograms procaine/animal) induces
a pattern of responses which is generally opposite to
that observed for intravenous injection. Also, the changes
produced in the lateral hypothalamus are more superficial
this time. An opposition between the effects of Aslavital
and of the other two drugs can be observed in this case
for the wave amplitude, which is usually increased by
procaine and Gerovital H3 and decreased by Aslavital.
In many cases, Aslavital induces a burst of positive
sharp waves reminiscent of the epileptiform abnormality.
The differences observed are tentatively explained by
us in terms of dose, drug composition and selective
action upon different nervous structures.
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A randomized, double-blind study
of procaine/haematoporphyrin (KH3) has been carried
out over two years in a selected population of healthy
elderly subjects. The period of study exceeds 500 patient
years. The trial population was weighted to contain
a larger proportion of subjects aged over 75 years than
a standard population; those receiving active KH3 had
similar characteristics on entry to those receiving
placebo. Over the course of two years, KH3 was shown
to be an active substance in that: (a) decrement in
the consolidation of new learning was prevented in the
treatment group (less than 1.0%, as against 38% in the
placebo group); (b) the prevalence of incontinence increased
significantly in the placebo group, but not in the active
group (P less than 0.05); (c) there was a significant
increase in grip strength in the active treatment group
(+22%, P less than 0.01 v. placebo); (d) more adverse
reactions were observed on treatment with KH3 (P less
than 0.005).
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The repeated exposure to cold
of 2-month- and 2-year-old rats resulted in an important
depression of the activity of numerous enzymes in the
adrenal cortex. The simultaneous treatment with Aslavital
administered in successive doses prevented the decrease
of the enzymic activity. It seems that Aslavital exerted
a stimulating action on the biosynthesis processes of
glucocorticoid hormones and subsequently induced the
processes of acclimatization to cold in rats submitted
to treatment.
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Twenty-five volunteers, all in
their fifth decade or beyond, all with mild to moderate,
nonpsychotic depression of at least several months'
duration participated in a double-blind study of Gerovital
vs placebo. There was no significant difference between
the Gerovital and placebo groups; both groups showed
significant improvement on self-rating as well as observer
rating scales.
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A group of 173 patients with the
diagnosis of systemic arteriosclerosis received a treatment
with Novocain, according to the following schedule:
three times a week intramusculary injections of 2% procain
5ml, that means 12 injections a month in 3--5 series.
The results were very encouraging in 46% of the treated
patients, in 28% a slight improvement was obtained while
in 26% the state was unchanged but not worse. The treatment
with Gerovital H3 according to A. Aslans method gave
very good results in the treatment of diseases like:
heart ischemia, systemic arteriosclerosis, predominant
cerebral arteriosclerosis, arteriosclerotic Parkinsons
disease; obvious results were also obtained in the treatment
of psychical disturbances related to arteriosclerosis.
The comparison with the control group (patients with
placebo) emphasized the good results of the treatment
of Aslan: Gerovital H3.
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Procaine chloride, which was a
common cause of allergic reactions in earlier years,
has lost importance as a contact allergen because its
use for local anesthesia has ceased. Recently, we have
seen hypersensitivity reactions in three patients after
the use of Gerovital, which is known to contain procaine
chloride. A word of warning is warranted against indiscriminate
use of Gerovital, particularly of its topical preparations.
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This article is a review and evaluation
of the world literature on the systemic use of procaine
in the treatment of the aging process and the common
chronic diseases of later life. Included are data from
285 articles and books, describing treatment in more
than 100,000 patients in the past 25 years. Except for
a possible antidepressant effect, there is no convincing
evidence that procaine (or Gerovital, of which procaine
is the major component) has any value in the treatment
of disease in older patients. If procaine has an antidepressant
effect, there is some likelihood that this accounts
for the reports of decreased complaints referable to
the musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, endocrine sexual,
gastrointestinal and respiratory systems.
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The effects of Gerovital H3 (a
specially stabilized form of procaine hydrochloride)
on geriatric psychiatric patients were assessed in a
double-blind study at Bronx State Hospital. The mean
age of the subjects was 73 years and the average rating
for the severity of organic symptoms was "moderate."
During the first six weeks of study, the patients were
each given a 5-ml injection of either Gerovital or placebo
(saline) intramuscularly three times a week. This dosage
was doubled to 10 ml per injection during the second
six weeks.Nine Gerovital and 10 control subjects completed
the first six weeks; and 6 Gerovital and 7 control subjects
completed the entire 12-week study. Objective rating
scales were used to evaluate patients on measures of
interpersonal functioning, cognitive ability, psychiatric
symptoms, and urine and blood chemical findings. All
subjects were assessed before treatment and at six weeks
and twelve weeks of the study. Side effects were recorded
at two-week intervals. On most measures the variability
between subjects was quite large, whereas differences
between average scores for the two groups usually were
small The few significant differences showed no systematic
pattern and would be expected to occur by chance alone
when so many statistical comparisons are made. The overall
results of this double-blind study strongly indicated
that, among these hospitalized geriatric patients with
organic symptoms, Gerovital H3 had no ameliorative effect
on either psychologic or physiologic functioning.
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A specially stabilized form of
procaine hydrochloride (Gerovital H3) has been shown
to be a more potent inhibitor of monoamine oxidase than
procaine HCl itself and a weaker inhibitor of this enzyme
than iproniazid. This preparation was studied to determine
its mode of interaction with monoamine oxidase using
purified rat brain mitochondrial monoamine oxidase as
the enzyme source. Reaction velocities were determined
spectrophotometrically by quantitating the rate of appearance
of 4-hydroxyquinoline from kynuramine. Dilutional studies
comparing the mechanism of inhibition of monoamine oxidase
produced by Gerovital H3 and by ipronizid demonstrated
that Gerovital H3 was a reversible inhibitor of monoamine
oxidase. Analysis of studies using Lineweaver-Burk and
Dixon plots revealed that Gerovital H3 was a fully competitive
inhibitor of monoamine oxidase. That Gerovital H3 is
a weak, reversible, competitive inhibitor of monoamine
oxidase may explain the absence of adverse reactions
associated with the clinical use of Gerovital H3 as
compared to the severe adverse reactions that have been
associated with the use of irreversible monoamine oxidase
inhibitors.
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