Dimebon

Dimebon (Dimebolin) is an antihistamine drug which has been used clinically in Russia since 1983.

Recently Dimebolin has attracted renewed interest after being shown to have positive effects on persons suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Animal studies showing potential beneficial effects on Alzheimer's disease models were shown in Russian research in 2000. Preliminary results from human trials have also been promising. In an initial six-month phase II trial, results have shown that at 12 months there was significant improvement over placebo.

Dimebolin is an orally active small molecule that has been shown to inhibit brain cell death in preclinical studies of Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease, making it a potential treatment for these and other neurodegenerative diseases. Research suggests that Dimebon may also have cognition-enhancing effects in healthy individuals, in the absence of neurodegenerative disease pathology.

Dimebon appears to operate through multiple mechanisms of action, both blocking the action of neurotoxic beta-amyloid proteins and inhibiting L-type calcium channels, modulating the action of AMPA and NMDA glutamate receptors, and may exert a neuroprotective effect by blocking a novel target that involves mitochondrial pores, which are believed to play a role in the cell death that is associated with neurodegenerative diseases and the aging process. Research is continuing in both Russia and western nations into the potential applications of Dimebon as a neuroprotective and potential nootropic.