[A nootropic adrenocorticotropin analog 4-10-semax (l5 years experience in its design and study)]. / Nootropnyi analog adrenokortikotropina 4-10-semaks (15-letnii opyt razrabotki i izucheniia).

Semax is one of the rare analogues of regulatory peptides which underwent all stages from fundamental investigations to practical usage. It has been demonstrated that this peptide is capable to stimulate operative memory and attention, to increase resistance to hypoxia and to improve brain circulation in experimental animals and human beings over prolonged period (20-24 h after intranasal administration in doses 0.015-0.050 mg/kg). Semax significantly improves memory and attention in healthy men under extreme conditions of activities. Moreover at present semax is successfully used in treatment of patients with different diseases of CNS. In the majority of cases the peptide exhibited positive effects and in no case it produced negative side actions or complications connected with its administration. There is good reason to believe that medical potentialities of semax have not been exhausted and in future new possibilities of its usage will be revealed.

[Hormonal activity of the ACTH(4-10) analog--a prolonged-action stimulant of learning]. / Gormonal'naia aktivnost' analoga AKTG4-10--stimuliatora obucheniia prologirovannogo deistviia.

Possible hormonal activity of ACTH4-7, a long-acting ACTH4-10 analog (ProGly Pro) was studied. Unlike ACTH5-10 the peptide did not reveal steroidogenic and melanocyte-stimulating activity.

[Effect of (L-Phe7) and (D-Phe7) ACTH 4-7 and an ACTH 4-7 analog with prolonged action on acetylcholinesterase activity in the rat brain]. / Vliianie (L-Phe7) i (D-Phe7) AKTG 4-7 i analoga AKTG 4-7 prolongirovannogo deistviia na aktivnost' atsetilkholinésterazy golovnogo mozga krys.

ACTH4-7 and its long-acting analog stimulate acetylcholinesterase activity of different areas of the rat brain. Based on the data concerning the effect of an amino acid mixture equivalent to ACTH4-7 and actinomycin D on acetylcholinesterase activity of the white substance of the large hemispheres it is inferred that the oligopeptide-induced increase in the enzyme activity is linked with the induction of the synthesis of new acetylcholinesterase molecules.

[Effect of neuropeptides modulating memory on the background and evoked electrical activity of the cerebral cortex in the rabbit]. / Izmeneniia fonovoi i vyzvannoi élektricheskoi aktivnosti kory bol'shikh polusharii krolika pod vliianiem neiropeptidov--moduliatorov pamiati.

The encephalographic correlations of behavioural activity of oligopeptides from the group of memory neuromodulators and similar substances (arginine-vasopressin, a fragment of adrenocorticotropine ACTH4-7 and four its analogues, leu-enkephalin and melanostatine) were studied in rabbits. The encephalogram was activated by these drugs. The fraction of low-frequency components decreased, that of high frequency increased, the amplitude decreased. The effect of ACTH4-7 and vasopressin on the parameters of visual summary evoked potential was dose-dependent. Neuropeptides reduced the latent period and increased the amplitude of summary potentials or depressed these parameters depending on dose. The effects of vasopressin were long-term in nature and lasted for several weeks. The effects of fragments of ACTH and leu-enkephalin lasted for several hours.

[Effect of adrenocorticotropin fragments on the memory of Tenebrio molitor beetles]. / Vliianie fragmentov adrenokortikotropina na pamiat' zhuka Tenebrio molitor.

Fragments of the adrenocorticotropic hormone ACTH1-24 and ACTH5-7 facilitate memory in the beetle T. molitor, the effect being observed at different stages after learning. An analogue of ACTH5-7 which contains D-phenylalamine, as well as D-phen7-ACTH4-7, inhibit memorization (the results checked 1 day after learning) and induce some other disturbances in the behaviour of beetles. To the 10th day of learning, the effects of the analogues cannot be distinguished from those of L-Phe7-fragments. The results obtained are compared with the known effect of ACTH fragments on memory in vertebrates.

[Effect of neuropeptide fragments of adrenocorticotropic hormone and vasopressin on the behavioral activity of rats]. / Vliianie na povedencheskuiu aktivnost' krys neiropeptidov--fragmentov adrenokortikotropnogo gormona i vazopressina.

The effects of vasopressin and those of fragments of adrenocorticotropin ACTH5-10; ACTH4-7; l-phenilalanin, and ACTH4-7 d-phenilalanin on the learning of rats in U-shaped labyrinth were studied. The consolidation of skills in long-term memory ability for reversal learning were checked. The results suggest that effect of all these oligopeptides on the higher nervous activity is significant and specific, vasopressin improving the long-term memory, ACTH4-7-l-phenilalanin improving the learning, ACTH4-7-d-phenilalanin making learning next to impossible.