RESUMO
The paper reviews the existing and future nootropic drugs (cognition enhancers) with different mechanisms of action and heterogenous chemical structures, which have been developed on the basis of knowledge of the mechanisms of learning, memory and forgetting, as well as degenerative processes in aging brain and disease-associated cognitive impairments. These agents influence on acetylcholine-, glutamate-, GABA-, 5-HT-, dopamine-, histamine-, adenosine-, phosphodiesterase-, neurotrophic- systems, and neurohormones. Neuropeptides and their analogs, blood flow enhancers, calcium-channel blockers, antioxidants and vitamins and herbal preparations, and some other agents improving cerebral metabolism and influencing the neurodegeneracy involved in Alzheimer's disease are considered. An original classification of cognition enhancers, based on mechanisms of their action, includes more than 200 drugs in current use and those currently under development.
