Pharmacology of Drugs of Peptide Structure

Abstract

The review of literature and proper data devoted to pharmacology of peptide drugs. The classification of peptide drugs was described. In the experiments, the comparative central effects of polypeptide drugs cortexin and cerebrolysin in dose range 1 µg, 10 µg and 100 µg were studied in Wistar rats after their administration into the cerebral ventriculi and in dose 1 mg/kg intraperitoneally. Both drugs induced moderate psychoactivating action, cortexin being more effective compared with cerebrolysin. This phenomenon was registered in all methods studied: open field, elevated plus-maze, intruder-resident, self-stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus. It is suggested that cortexin and cerebrolysin have the same mode of action, but cortexin was more effective than cerebrolysin. The difference in intravernticular and intraperitoneal effects of drugs was that in the first case both drugs possessed anxiolytic actition, and in the second case the anxigenic effect was registered. Perhaps, the central anxiolytic effect of drugs was associated with nonspecific action of polypeptides following their administration into brain ventriculi. Besides, at the second part of investigatiuons, the Wistar rat pups in age of 4 days were injected intraperitoneally with corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH), activating stress system, or heat shock proteins 70 kDa (HSP-70), intracellular shaperons, possessing antistress properties. In adult rats of 90-100 days old, the effects of nootropics noopept and cortexin (1 mg/kg i.p.) were assessed. The activation of stress or antistress systems with CRH or HSP-70 respectively changed the drugs effects significantly. These effects were different in males and in females and depended on animal gender. The spectrum of pharmacological activity of noopept and cortexin changed. Noopept demonstrated preferable psychoactivating and antiaggressive effects but cortexin showed mild antiolytic and antidepressant activity. It is suggested that behavioral effects of nootropics depends on condition of the formation of stress system in early ontogeny.

Keywords

neuropeptides / cortexin / cerebrolysin / noopept / central effects / CRH / HSP-70 / stress / ontogeny / rats / male / female

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