Correction of alcohol-induced disorders of working memory with noopept

Introduction. Nootropic drugs are used at all stages in treatment of behavioral disorders associated with alcohol consumption, when the correction of the functions of operational (working) memory and attention contributes to a more adequate processing and assimilation of information.

The aim of this work is a comparative study of the effect of piracetam and its peptide analogue noopept on ethanol-induced non-spatial memory impairment in in vivo and ex vivo experiments.

Material and methods. To reproduce alcohol-induced cognitive disturbances, a method of chronic alcohol exposure of outbred rats was used, based on providing animals with a 10% ethanol solution as the only source of fluid for 30 weeks, followed by behavioral and neurochemical studies of the pharmacological effects of noopept (1.5 mg/kg) and piracetam (100 mg/kg) after 7 daily intraperitoneal administration during ethanol withdrawal.

Results. According to morphological studies, chronic ethanol consumption induced a neurotoxic effect on the cerebral cortex, as well as pronounced damage in the pyramidal neurons of the CA1 and CA3 zones of the hippocampus in rats. In the "Novel object recognition" test, noopept, like piracetam, prevented the impairment of working memory induced by ethanol withdrawal. Unlike piracetam, noopept restored the content of glutamate and gamma aminobutyric acid in the hippocampus of rats exposed to ethanol to the level of values of non-ethanol exposed rats.

Thus, in experimental studies, the positive mnemotropic properties of noopept have been proven in relation to alcohol-induced disorders of non-spatial long-term working memory, which are comparable to piracetam.