Nootropics are medicines that exert specific action on higher integrative brain functions, improve memory, facilitate the learning process, stimulate intellectual activity, increase the stability of the brain to damaging factors, improves cortical-subcortical relations. Nootropic drugs can improve cognitive functions in both healthy people and in patients with deviations.

Unlike psychostimulants, nootropics do not cause psychomotor agitation, exhaustion of the functional abilities in the organism, addiction.

The term nootropic has been approved in medical practice in 1972 year after the first medication Piracetam (Nootropils) appeared on the pharmaceutical market.

The majority of nootropics possess different action mechanisms. It's is believed that nootropic effects are associated with:

• Direct action on neurons
• Improvement of cerebral circulation and microcirculation
• Antiplatelet, anti-hypoxant, decongestant action

Currently it is considered that main action mechanisms of nootropic agents are based on metabolic and bioenergetic processes in nervous cells and cooperation with neuromediators. Nootropics improve glucose utilization (especially in brain cortex, subcortical ganglion, pituitary gland and tentorium), improve the exchange of nucleic acids, activate ATP, protein and RNA synthesis.

The effects of many nootropic agents are associated with certain neurotransmitter systems such as:

• Monoaminergic (piracetam increases the amount of dopamine and noradrenaline in the brain).
• Cholinergic (piracetam increases the amount of acetylcholine in the synaptic endings and density of cholinergic receptors)
• Glutamatergic (Glycin acts through NMDA-receptors)

Many of nootropics such as Actovegin, Solcoseryl and Cerebrolysin possess the following mechanisms:

• Membrane-stabilizing action: regulation of phospholipids and protein synthesis in nervous cells, stabilizing and normalization the structure of cellular membranes.
• Anti-oxidant action: suppression the formation of free radicals and lipid peroxidation of cellular membranes
• Anti-hypoxic action: increasing the resistance of neurons to hypoxia

Neuroprotective action: increasing the resistance of nervous cells to pathogenic factors