RU2593345C2 - Method for improving cognitive functions - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: medicine.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to experimental medicine and can be used for improvement of functional control systems, responsible for cognitive functions of human brain. Method comprises exposing subject to barochamber action. Subject is exposed to hypoxic action at air pressure equivalent to an altitude of 5,000 m above sea level, with a duration of 2 hours with interval of 24 hours in 3 days. Pressure reduction from normal to limit, corresponding to "ascent", and an increase in pressure in opposite direction - "descent" - is carried out stepwise and/or continuously. "Ascent" and "descent" is carried out at a rate of no more than 4 m/s, in turn, "ascent" is accompanied by one-, two-, four- and six-minute stoppages at "altitude" of 1,000 m, 2,000 m, 3,000 m 4,000 m, respectively. Total ascent and descent time is approximately 60 minutes.

EFFECT: method allows improves safety and efficiency of procedure aimed at improving cognitive functions due to hypobaric hypoxia, equivalent to a rise in mountains with a moderately rarefied atmosphere and same ratio of concentrations of its components.

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Description

The invention relates to experimental medicine, namely to methods for non-drug improvement of cognitive functions of the brain. The inventive method was tested on laboratory animals - monkeys - and showed good results. This allows us to conclude that the method can be used to improve the functioning of functional control systems responsible for the cognitive functions of the human brain.

The closest to the intended analogues of the invention are the methods published in the articles: [1] - the impact of short-term hypoxia (anoxia) on the cognitive processes in monkeys, [2] - correction of visual recognition impairment in monkeys using an antioxidant, [3, 4] - hypobarotherapy of anxious disorders in neurosis and psychosomatic diseases.

So in method [1] and [2], the therapeutic effect on primates in order to improve cognitive functions is based on the use of a respiratory mask that allows short-term replacement of inhaled air with nitrogen [1], or in the systemic administration of the antioxidant oxymethacil [2]. Both effects give a positive effect in solving problems with delayed visual differentiation (short-term memory improves), but at the same time they have a number of limitations in use: in the method [1], dosing is determined only by the time of anoxia, in addition, masking is associated with certain inconveniences and risks; [2] - the pharmacological approach may have contraindications, side effects and insecurity and inconvenience of the injection procedure.

Sources [3, 4] describe barotherapy that is widely used in the treatment of neurosis and psychosomatic diseases, which imitates regular daily “lifts” to heights of up to 3500 m in the adaptation or training regimen. The disadvantages of the method include a relatively long course of necessary exposure (20-30 sessions) and focus primarily on systemic rather than genome-dependent adaptation mechanisms.

Among the known analogues, the closest is a method of increasing cognitive abilities according to US Pat. RF №2510619, MKI A61M 16/12, publ. 04/10/2014. The advantage of the prototype method in comparison with the listed analogues is that it, using non-drug exposure, solves the problem of improving the cognitive functions of the subject. The essence of the prototype is the alternation of the pressure chamber hypoxic and hyperoxic hyperbaric effects on the subject with oxygen-helium gas mixtures, which increase the compensatory-adaptive capabilities of the body due to the cyclic alternation of hypoxia and hyperoxia. Additional operating factors are the excess pressure of the inhaled mixtures (0.03 MPa) and their heating to 40-80 ° C. The duration of the session is 25-30 minutes. One session includes 5-7 cycles, each of which is an alternation of hypoxic exposure to a gas mixture with a volume fraction of oxygen of 6% (severe hypoxia) and hyperbaric hyperoxic exposure to a gas mixture with a volume fraction of oxygen of 30%. The number of sessions is 3-7, spend them daily.

The disadvantage of this method is that it

- combines quite complex, potentially hazardous to life and unnatural for the human environment impacts;

- primarily involves systemic adaptation mechanisms that do not affect deeper genome-dependent mechanisms;

- has a fairly short period of preservation of the effect (up to 10 days).

Unlike the prototype, the claimed method allows:

- to effectively use the adaptive effect natural for humans (hypobaric hypoxia), equivalent to climbing mountains with a moderately discharged atmosphere and a constant ratio of the concentrations of its components, which increases the comfort of the procedure;

- with the smallest number of repetitions (3 sessions) to achieve improvement in a number of cognitive functions of the subject: learning ability, short-term memory, reaction speed, performance, by mobilizing urgent evolutionary prevailing genome-determined mechanisms of neuronal adaptation;

- to ensure the safety of the procedure due to the stepwise and / or smoothness of the creation of the impact in combination with its adaptive stress intensity.

Thus, the technical result of using the proposed method is to increase the safety and efficiency of the pressure chamber procedure aimed at improving cognitive functions.

To achieve this result, the following set of essential features is used: in a method for improving cognitive functions, based, like the prototype, on the pressure chamber effect on the subject, in contrast to the prototype, the subject is hypoxic at an air pressure equivalent to an altitude of 5000 m above sea level, 2 hours with an interval of 24 hours for 3 days, with a decrease in pressure from normal to extreme, corresponding to "rise", and an increase in pressure in the opposite direction - "down" - carry out respectively stepwise and / or smoothly. In this case, the "rise" and "descent" is carried out with a speed of not more than 4 m / s, in turn, the "rise" is accompanied by one-, two-, four- and six-minute stops, respectively, at the "heights" of 1000 m, 2000 m, 3000 m, 4000 m, and the time of ascent and descent in aggregate takes about 60 minutes.

In this case, the subject may be an adult conditionally healthy individual, or a subject having clinical indications associated with impaired cognitive functions, or a subject having age-related cognitive impairment, or a subject associated with intense mental activity.

The essence of the proposed method for improving cognitive (cognitive) brain functions, including triple hypobaric hypoxia, is to stimulate stress-activated adaptive capabilities of the brain, including those associated with learning and memory.

Comparison of the proposed method and the prototype showed that the task is to increase the safety and effectiveness of the pressure chamber hypoxic procedure is solved as a result of a new set of features, which proves the compliance of the invention with the patentability criterion of "novelty".

In turn, the information search in the field of medicine did not reveal solutions containing individual distinctive features of the claimed invention, which allows us to conclude that the proposed method meets the criterion of "inventive step".

The claimed method is as follows. Hypoxic exposure at atmospheric pressure, equivalent to an altitude of 5000 m, lasting 2 hours and with an interval of 24 hours is carried out in a large flow-type pressure chamber for 3 days. Conditionally healthy monkeys were chosen as subjects. For individuals undergoing the procedure, the effect was carried out stepwise, equivalent to lifting to intermediate heights (1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 m) at a speed of 4 m / s and stops from one to four minutes at each stage. At each stage, the general condition of the subjects was checked. In order to register functional changes in a test subject using a specially developed system of cognitive tests, the following parameters were evaluated: response time with the right choice of one of two differentiable stimuli, the number of failures, the probability of the right choice in a situation with the possibility of an instant or delayed response.

The essence of the proposed method is illustrated graphically, where

in FIG. 1 shows the acceleration of the reaction of animals after the procedure (monkeys Fan, Barry, Meadow),

in FIG. 2 - reduction in the percentage of refusals from work in the experiment (monkey Barry),

in FIG. 3 - increase in the proportion of correct differentiation of visual stimuli (Berry, Meadow). The histogram also illustrates the improvement of short-term memory (at delays of 1, 2, 4 s), taking into account individual and gender specifics.

EXAMPLE OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE METHOD

Studies were conducted on primates (rhesus macaques) aged 18-21 years, which in terms of human life expectancy can correspond to 70-80 years. In the experiments, individuals of both sexes took part: Barry (female), Meadow and Fan (males). The experiment consisted of the following steps:

- training the monkey to work in the installation and selection of a pair of visual stimuli (pictures) of positively reinforced objects that differ in the desired sign;

- testing of a trained monkey in the recognition problem in several series, distinguished by pairs of pictures and desired features. At the same time, the parameters of the reaction time, the probability of the right choice, the probability of failure to work, the exit period at 85% level of correct answers were recorded;

- carrying out triple hypobaric hypoxic effects in the pressure chamber flow type,

- repeated testing (2 weeks after and two months after) and comparison of cognitive indicators before and after barohypoxia.

As a result, it was demonstrated that a triple hypoxic effect according to the claimed method significantly reduces the animal’s cognitive response time (Fig. 1), stabilizes the functioning of a functional system that is closely related to motivation, which manifests itself in a decrease in the number of refusals to complete a task (Fig. 2), increases the probability of correct differentiation of visual stimuli, including delays (taking into account individual, gender and age specifics) (Fig. 3). In addition, the tested individuals have a markedly improved appetite and performance (that is, the ability to continue working for a longer time without a noticeable decrease in motivation and deterioration of results).

Compared with the prototype, the proposed method for improving cognitive functions is safer, because It is a natural effect for the subject, created stepwise and / or smoothly, and is effective, because the impact is not only on systemic adaptation mechanisms, but also on deeper genome-dependent mechanisms.

As mentioned above, the claimed method showed good results in an experiment on laboratory animals - monkeys, which allows us to conclude that it can be used to correct the cognitive functions of people with certain impaired functions (for example, age or clinical). The method also simplifies and makes more effective the use and further development of ways to increase the cognitive ability of the brain of persons engaged in intense mental work.

The above allows us to conclude that the invention meets the criterion of "industrial applicability".

Information sources

1. Dudkin K.N., Kruchinin V.K., Chueva I.V., Samoilov M.O. The effect of short-term hypoxia on cognitive processes and their neural correlates in monkeys // Doklady AN. 1993, 333.4, 543-545.

2. Dudkin K.N., Kruchinin V.K., Chueva I.V. Correction of visual recognition impairment in monkeys using an antioxidant // Physiological Journal. THEM. Sechenova, 1992, 78, 6, 54-58.

3. A method of adaptation to periodic hypobaric hypoxia in therapy and prevention. Guidelines. - M.: Ministry of Health of the RSFSR, 1989.

4. Atamanov A.A., Buykov V.A. Hypobarotherapy of anxiety disorders with neurosis and psychosomatic diseases. Patent RU (11) 2193382 (13) C2 (51) 7 A61G 10/02.

5. RF patent No. 2510619, MKI A61M 16/12, publ. 04/10/2014.

6. Dudkin K.N. I.P. Pavlov and neurophysiology of cognitive processes. SPb. IFRAN. 2007.295 s.

Claims (6)

1. A method for improving cognitive functions based on a pressure chamber effect on a subject, characterized in that the subject is hypoxic at an air pressure equivalent to an altitude of 5000 m above sea level, lasting 2 hours with an interval of 24 hours for 3 days, this reduction of pressure from normal to extreme, corresponding to the "rise", and the increase in pressure in the opposite direction - "descent" is carried out stepwise and / or smoothly, respectively. 2. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that the "rise" and "descent" is carried out with a speed of not more than 4 m / s, while the "rise" is accompanied by one-, two-, four- and six-minute stops, respectively, at "heights "1000 m, 2000 m, 3000 m, 4000 m, and the time of ascent and descent in aggregate takes about 60 minutes. 3. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that the subject is an adult conditionally healthy individual. 4. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that the subject has clinical indications associated with impaired cognitive functions. 5. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that the subject has age-related cognitive impairment. 6. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that the activity of the subject is associated with intense mental activity.

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