[southblues]

Does mestinon cross the blood/brain barrier?
I was wondering if it has any effect on the central nervous system.
The drugs to improve cognition with Alzheimer's are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. So I was wondering if mestinon also helps with cognition problems.

Any ideas on this?

[Brennan068]

Yes, it can cross the blood/brain barrier. No, it is not supposed to. Nobody has really researched it in depth, but it seems to be stress related - if you're under a lot of stress it can. There is some evidence that Gulf War Syndrome is related to this.

[BackwardPawn]

Originally Posted by Brennan068

Yes, it can cross the blood/brain barrier. No, it is not supposed to. Nobody has really researched it in depth, but it seems to be stress related - if you're under a lot of stress it can. There is some evidence that Gulf War Syndrome is related to this.

From what I've read, very little of it does. There was a study done several years ago showing that we have less acytocholine in the brain and one of the conclusions was that a trial should be conducted using a drug that does cross the blood/brain barrier, but I couldn't find whether the follow up study was ever run.