Other Names

Pyridoxine disulfide, pyrithioxine, Encephabol, Encefabol, Cerbon 6, (CAS Number) 1098-97-1, (PubChem) CID 14190

Background

Pyritinol was first created by Merck Laboratories in 1961, formed by the joining of two Vitamin B6 compounds with a disulfide bridge.  It is used to improve memory and to assist in the treatment of dementia, learning disorders and rheumatoid arthritis.  In addition, it has been marketed as a nootropic since the 1990s.

Mode of Action

Pyritinol increases blood flow to the cerebrum by increasing the functionality of nerve cells.    It also allocates intracellular choline from the choline kinase pathway for the synthesis of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.    Acetylcholine serves numerous functions in the nervous system, including memory retention, muscle movement, and attention sustenance.

Benefits

Pyritinol is used in France as a disease modifying drug for impeding the progression of rheumatoid arthritis.  It can also treat cognitive disorders by boosting brain functions and learning abilities. A study conducted with twelve volunteers compared participants’ performance on various psychological tests and discovered that subjects given doses of pyritinol showed improved performance in a choice reaction time test to a significantly greater degree than subjects given a placebo.  The memory testing, however, did not produce the same significant differences in performance between the two groups. A small study also supported a theory that doses of pyritinol taken  during a period of heavy alcohol consumption may reduce the symptoms of a hangover. 

Dosing Pyritinol

Pyritinol’s half-life is approximately two and a half hours.  The most common daily dosages fall in the range of 400-600 mg per day, though neither as little as 100 mg nor as much as 1200 mg is unusual.  It is often sold in tablet form with a recommendation to ingest with food.  The median lethal dose for oral consumption is approximately 300 mg/kg for mice, 980 mg/kg for rats and 3200 mg/kg for rabbits.