1.   Gerovital-H3, its regenerative effects
2.   Gerovital-H3, anti-depressant effects
3.   Gerovital-H3, creator Ana Aslan's life
4.   Gerovital-H3, treatment in osteoarthritis
5.   Old age humoral dismetabolism (GH-3)
6.   Gerovital-H3  treatment in rheumatology 
7.   Gerovital-H3 - classic antiaging medicine



Gerovital-H3 - Its regenerative effects
  by Mircea Dumitru M.D., Ph.D.                               to order

In 1956, Aslan brought forth her work "A new method for the prophylaxis and treatment of old age with Novacaine-Substance H3" at the institute of chemical physiology, Berne, Switzerland (1) and at the "Deutsche Therapiewoche" congress in Karlsruhe, Germany (2).

Since then, over the past 42 years, valuable literature on Gerovital-H3 has accumulated consisting of the confirmation of Aslan’s geriatric-method, and Gerovital-H3's regenerating and prophylactic actions.

Studies conducted by the National Institute in Bucharest and those carried on by other authors have pointed out the general action excerpted by Gerovital-H3 on the aging process, and its action on chronic diseases, the frequency of which increases with advancing age (3,4).

Clinically, Gerovital treated patients show more desire to live, diminished depression and anxiety, increased physical and intellectual capacities, diminished extrapyramidal rigidity, better skin, hair and nail trophicity, less senile spots and keratosis, growth and regimentation of the hair color, increased muscular strength and joint mobility and faster knitting of accidental fractures.

Gerovital and regeneration

Aslan checked these clinical facts experimentally (5), the research showed Gerovital-H3 to have regenerative effects on the liver tissue, bone marrow and it shortened the time required by bone knitting after experimental fractures in rats (5).

An experimental study was conducted by Aslan on 1840 rats, it made evident an 18% to 21% life span extension in the treated rats as compared to control rats injected with saline solution.

The treated old animals also displayed better general trophicity, thick and glossy fur, higher resistance to acute diseases, increased resistance to exercise and better answers to memory and behaviour tests as against the control group. At the age of 24 months, the treated animals with Gerovital-H3 scored better in learning and memorizing the maze (6), (see figure 1 below).

The histological examination of the hearts removed from animals treated with Aslan's Gerovital-H3 revealed connective invasion more reduced than in the controls; the degenerative modifications of the renal tubes were fewer and less severe in the treated animals as were the involutive changes found in other organs.

The laboratory studies conducted on Drosophila melanogaster revealed a 22.7% life span extension in individuals cultivated in a medium containing 0.005mg Gerovital-H3/ml, in comparison with control group (p 0.01). Similar results were obtained with secondary cultures of monkey renal cells.

Gerovital-H3 in a concentration of 0.4ml% induced the extension of the post-mitotic life span renal cells by 16%, meanwhile the normal signs of aging were noted in the untreated cells (7,8).

Gerovital-H3 effects on aging embryo fibroblasts of the rat and their life span in cultures were studied by Officer (9). He noticed that Gerovital-H3 added to the cultures in the 7th to 9th passages reduced the time required by cell replication, which thus continued for 2 to 5 generations more than in control cultures. When added to cultures in which the replication had ceased, Gerovital-H3 extended cell life span, it also prevented the spontaneous change into a continuos cell line.

Regarding the regeneration of cells, I recall Schedel's experiment with procaine injections around a wound (10). This enabled him to cure an ulceration caused by Rontgen therapy. The histologic examination of the wound revealed the appearance of the granulation tissue after a 3-week treatment along with the accumulation of the so-called "regeneration cells" around many vessels (see figure 2 over).

The age-related accumulation of lipofuscin within the nervous cells is now well known, so the action of Gerovital-H3 was studied on rats under 6 to 18 months old. Histologically and histochemically, the number of entirely lipofuscin-loaded pyramidal and Purkinje cells from the brain cortex and cerebellum was much lower (19.4 in treated vs. control animals- 72.8) (11,12).

In an experiment study on the nootropic effects of Gerovital-H3 upon the central nervous system in rats, it was noted that Gerovital-H3 had protective consequences against anoxia by curarization or closed circuit (13).

Gerovital- protection against infection

The higher resistance to infections of the patients under Gerovital-H3 treatment was also remarked on by Aslan (14), her observations showed that;

•69.1% of the patients under long-term treatment with Gerovital-H3 did not catch any disease.

•Overall the death rate in the Gerovital-H3 group was 3.3% compared to a much higher rate of 12.9% in the control group.

•The patients under long-term Gerovital-H3 treatment were less prone to infectious diseases, both in the cases of seasonal influenza epidemics and whenever the environmental conditions favoured the onset of acute repiratory pathology (15).

•The prophylactic studies which consisted in administering Gerovital-H3 to people over 40 years old indicated the decrease in morbidity rates leading to the reduction in the number of sick days off work by 39%, when compared to the pre-treatment period (16).

(Ed.- In fact the Romanian government was so impressed by this potential productivity/ economic improving potential, that it subsidised the cost of the Gerovital-H3 to its people!)

Further experimental researches conducted by Raskova (17) showed that procaine injected into mice increased their resistance to Shigella shigea; (and when maintained by periodical procaine injections) this resistance was passively transmitted to their offspring!

With subsequent investigations, I will try to pinpoint the mechanism by which Gerovital-H3 enhances the organism's defence ability, but for now, •Gerovital-H3 prevents or alleviates chronic diseases which are caused by mechanisms closely dependent upon the general involution of the organism and implicity of the immune structures and functions.

•Some researchers found out that low auto-antibody levels in aged people treated with Gerovital H-3 over long periods (18), this data points to Aslan's treatment ability to hamper the impairment of those structures susceptible to become antigen sources for the production of auto-antibodies. This treatment appears as effective in preventing auto-aggression phenomena in the aged. As the lymphocyte binding ability decreases with advancing age, Gerovital-H3 preserves lymphocyte reactivity on which the cell-mediated immune response is based.

The increased resistance of the organism against the manifold environmental aggression (infections, toxins, stress) is also prevented by the decline in cortisol levels (19).

Dr. Aslan published her findings on the functional study of the cortex and basic nuclei in aged and young people by way of conditioned vascular reflexes (20,21). Since then Tzobkallo C.T. has confirmed these results by means of experimental salivary conditioned reflexes.

These authors claim that small doses of 1-2mg procaine/ Kg body weight injected subcutaneously stimulate the higher nervous activity. Large doses of 10-20mg procaine/ Kg body weight have an anti-depressing effect (22) (see figure 3).

Gerovital- experiments in the USA!

Experiments using procaine according to Aslan's method were conducted in the united states, where they concentrated upon mental disorders.

In a double-blind trial on 30 elderly patients, Zung using Gerovital-H3, placebo and imipramine emulated Aslan's Gerovital-H3 efficiency in depressed people (23). Data published by the American authors drew attention on the change induced by aging and depressive states in the enzymatic activity of the nervous cell, as well as the antidepressive effect of Gerovital-H3 (24,25).

These studies have provided a view of potential importance regarding the Gerovital-H3 antioxidant action (26). The author found out that Gerovital-H3 exerted an inhibition on the generation of the superoxide radical in a nonenzymatic system. It was shown that Gerovital-H3 determined a decrease in the erythrocyte susceptibility to auto-oxidation, and it was suggested that this geriatric product might play an important role in the erythrocyte antioxidant protective mechanisms.

In a study on the prophylactic effects of the treatment with Gerovital-H3, it has been discovered that there are significant increases in the serum HDL-C concentrations (good cholesterol) of the HDL-C percentages of the serum total cholesterol, decreases in the triglyceride levels and a tendency to return towards the normal lipid profile (table available upon request) (26).

Gerovital-H3, the original procaine-based product, exerts its effects on the atherogenesis process by several interdependent mechanisms, consisting either in diminishing the level of plasmatic lipoproteins and lipids, or in the effect exerted on the erythrocyte membrane (an increase in membrane fluidity and a protection against osmotic hemolysis), or by the antioxidant mechanisms reducing the oxidative stress exerted on the membrane structure and on the HDL (see figure 4).

On the occasion of the International Scientific Manifestation "Medizinischewoche" in Baden-Baden Germany (November/ 1985), while concluding the Gerontology and Geriatrics Section, Prof. Dr. Paul Luth (Germany) remarked "Gerovital-H3 treatment and Aslan's method represent the most efficient therapeutic procedure in Pregeriatrics (40-65 years old) and Geriatrics (more than 65 years old) in the prevention of aging disorders and chronic diseases."Gerovital-H3 is still made in Romania to Dr. Ana Aslan's original formula. It is available in 100mg tablets or 5ml injectable ampoules. English instructions are made available with every purchase.

REFERENCES

1). Ana Aslan: Novocain als Eutophischer Factor und die Moglichkeit einer Verlangerung der Lebensdauer. Therapeutische Umschau, 1956, 9, 165-172.

(2). Ana Aslan: Eine Neue Methode zur Prophylaxe und Behandlung des Alterns mit Novokain-Stoff H3, Eutrophische und Verjungende Wirkung. Therapiewoche, 1956, 7, 1-2, 14-22.

(3). Ana Aslan: La Novocaine H3 dans la Therapeutique de la Vieillesse. Rev. Franc. Geront., 1958, 4, 321-330. Paris.

(4). Ana Aslan: Procaine Therapy in Old Age Disorders (Novocaine Factor H3). Geront. Clin., 1960, 2-3, 148-172. Basal.

(5). Ana Aslan: The Therapeutics of Old Age. The Action of Procaine- Clinical and Experimental Conclusions. In: Medical and Clinical Aspects of Aging-Ed. H.T. Blumenthal, Columbia Univ. Press, 1962, 4, 272-292, New York.

(6). Ana Aslan et col: Long-term Treatment with procaine (Gerovital-H3) in Albino Rats. J. Geront., 1965, 20, 1, 1-8.

(7). Ana Aslan et col: Behaviour of Renal Cells in Long-term Cultures. Influence of cemotherapy with Gerovital-H3. 10th Int. Congress of Geront., Jerusalem. Abstracts 1976, p6.

(8). Ana Aslan et col.:Researchers on Monkey Renal Cells Treated "in vitro" with Gerovital-H3. Romanian J. of G&G, 1980, 1,1, 41-46.

(9). Cracium E., Mares V.: Les modifications des Tissus Conjonctifs dans la Senescence et la Pathologie du Viellard. Inf. Med. Roum., 1959, 3,3 18-20. Boucarest.

(10). Schedel F.: Lokale Novakaininjectionen zur Behandlung von Strahlenschaden. Zentrbl. Chirurgie, 1958, 83, 44, 2038.

(11). Ana Aslan et col.: The Effect of Gerovital-H3 on the Lipofuscin Pigment from Old Rat Brain, Heart and Testis Evaluated Spectrofluorometrically. Rom. J. of G&G. 1984, 5, 2, 147.

(12). Ana Aslan et col.: Lipofuscin Accumulation in the Brain of the White Wistar Rat in relation to the Eutrophic Medication with Gerovital-H3. Rom. J. of G&G. 1984, 5, 3, 189.

(13). Stroescu V. et col.: Experimental Studies on the Nootropic Effects Exerted upon the Central Nervous System by Gerovital-H3 versus Procaine and Pyracetam. Rom. J. of G&G. 1985, 6, 2, 105-111.

(14). Ana Aslan: Longitudinal Study in the National Institute of Geront. & Geriatrics of Romania. Excerpta Medica No 469. Proceedings of the IXth Int. Congress of Gerontology, Tokyo, August, 1978, 533-537, and Rom. J. of Geront. & Geriatrics, 1980, 1, 2, 179-187.

(15). Ana Aslan, M. Dumitru, S. Galaftion: The Longitudinal Outpatient Treatment with Gerovital-H3. Rom. J. of Geront. & Geriatrics. 1980, 1,1, 29-34.

(16). Ana Aslan: Recherches Concernant le Pcocessus de Viellissement et sa Prophylaxie. Travaux du VIII eme Congres Europeen de Gerontologie Clinique. Neptun, Roumanie, I, 1977, 5-13.

(17). Rakova H et col.: Some Pharmacological Properties of Procaine. Arch. Int. Pharm. 1962, 1, 2, 319-326.

(18). Manciulea M. et col.: Antialbumin Antibodies in Old Age and the Influence of Biotrophic Treatment with Gerovital-H3. Rom. J. of G&G. 1980, 1, 2, 295-299.

(19). Drafta D. et col.: The Effect of Gerovital-H3 Treatment on Plasma Steroids in Elderly People. Rom. J. of G&G. 1981, 2, 1, 85-94.

(20). Parhon C.I., Ana Aslan: Central Nervous Activity in Young and Old People Studied and the Method of Vacular Conditioned Reflexes. The Influence of Hormone and Vitamin Treatments in Old People. Bull. Rom. Acad. Sci., 1955, 5, 2, 417-424.

(21). Ana Aslan: Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Chemotherapeutic Retardation of the Aging Process. Rom. J. of G&G. 1983, 4, 1, 3-14.

(22). Tsobkallo G.I. et col.: Studies of the Functional State of the Brain within the General Action of Procaine. First Int. Congress of Pharmacology. Stockholm, 1961.

(23). Zung W.W.K. et col.: Pharmacology of Depression in the Aged: Evaluation of Gerovital-H3 as an antidepressant Drug. Psychosomatics, 1974, 15, 127-131.

(24). Hrachovec J.P.: Inhibitory Effect of Gerovital-H3 on Monoamine Oxidase of Rat Brain, Liver and Heart. The Physiologist, 1972, 3, 15.

(25). MacFarlane M.D.: Procaine (Geroviral-H3) Therapy: Mechanism of Inhibition if Monoamineoxidase. J. Am. Geriat. Soc. 1974, XXII, 8, 365-371.

(26). Russu C. et col.: Antioxidant and Lipid lowering Effect of Original Procaine-based Product- Gerovital-H3. The 16th Congress of the International Association of Gerontology. Adelaide, 1997. Book of Abstracts, p217.

The following article is copyrighted and intended for private viewing only.  It cannot be copied without the written permission of International Antiaging Systems, Box 337A GY1, Channel Islands, Great Britain.

The anti-depressant effects of Gerovital-H3 treatment
By Mircea Dumitru M.D. PhD.

As people grow old, the brain undergoes macroscopic, microscopic, biochemical and electrophisiological changes. The number of neurons (nervous cells) decrease, dendridic changes occur (the link among cells), as well as neurofibrillas and plates (described by Marinescu and Block) appear in the nervous cells.

Recent data shows that neuron losses do not occur in all the brain’s area (for instance, the parietal area). There are markers which confirm the aging process: ischemia, plates of lipofuscin, neurofibrillas (a net of intraneuronal fibres very frequent in Alzheimer’s disease). The prefrontalis and frontalis are the areas most altered by aging. Changes also occur within the cerebral vascular system: haemorrhages, atheromatous plates and obstruction of some small vessels.

The cognitive changes are quite normal in the elderly (the topic is still under discussion). Nevertheless, old age brings about changes of the intellectual ability). The impairment of the cognitive functions begins about age of 35-40, although being insignificant till the age of 60-65. The primary memory (sense memory) and the long-term memory do not change. On the contrary, the short-term memory (from 1 hour to 1 week) is altered. The elderly can hardly remember the names and the events that happened and the things they read over this period. The use of calendar and written notes help them most. It is very easy for the elderly to remember knowledge stored in the past to which their lifetime experience is added.

Effects of Old Age

The decrease of the psychomotory activity is another important feature of old age, which is obvious in everyday life (the subtle movements lose their accuracy, the reaction speed lowers). With normal aging these changes do not infringe upon the elderly’s independence and ability to meet their own needs.

The above mentioned changes are normal in the elderly. Biochemical changes of the neurotransmitting systems (GABA, dopaminic, cholinergic and serotoninic) and the influence of some exogenous factors bring forth the metabolic changes which cause depression’s onset. In the presence of an old patient with cognitive impairments and changes of behaviour, the geriatrician and the psychologist should distinguish the trilogy:

•is it a normal change?
•are they the indices of a depression?
•is it an incipient Alzheimer’s disease?

In general, the patients suffering from depression exaggerate their sufferings, while those with Alzheimer’s disease or with other incipient dementias deny or minimise them.

Depression

Depression is one of the elderly’s major diseases. It is also frequent in adults. Depression is a syndrome (a series of symptoms) including physiological, emotional and cognitive symptoms. The criteria worked out by The American Psychiatric Association in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd revised edition) include:

Change of appetite and weight;
•Sleep disorders;
•Inner strain or belated motory reactions;
•Lack of energy, fatigue;
•Nervousness;
•Concentration and memory disorders;
•Lack of pleasure and interest in almost any kind of activity;
•Tendencies of guilt;
•Thought or attempt of suicide.

The presence of 5 of these symptoms shows a major depression fit. These symptoms are often assigned to normal age, both the physician and the patient being mostly concerned with physical diseases and ignoring depression.

In the elderly, depression occurs within a complex clinical and social context. The older patient may suffer from 2-3 or even more diseases, some of them leading to infirmities, and the social relationships may be non-existent. The diagnosis of depression should be preceded by a thorough analysis of the patient’s present state and case history. The clinical history, physical examination and bilogical check-up, as well as a study of the social background are current possibilities of assessing the diagnosis of depression.

Some author consider that many elderly have a depressive state. According to the National Health Institute of Bethesda, 30% of the elderly (over 65) suffer from depression. Other researchers mention a higher rate - 50% and even more in the elderly of the 8th, 9th and 10th age decades. This suffering often remains hidden, unknown, being masked by physical diseases, and neither the patient nor the care staff, homes for the aged, nursing homes for the elderly people recognise it.

Despite the great progress of diagnosis, treatment and care of these patients, many aspects of depression are still unsettled. For the readers of this article interested in the promotion of an active life, it is important to know:

•The conditions and factors responsible for the depressive states;
•The peculiarities of depression in the elderly, and
•The treatment.

For women who lead a life of deprivation i.e., widows stressed and lacking a moral and economic support - often suffer from depression. After the age of 65, chronic diseases such as cancer, stroke, diabetes, mellitus, deforming and painful arthritis, by their nature multiply the implications and induce a depressive state. Half of the patients suffering from depression have several episodes during their lifespan. Suicide and suicidal tendencies are frequent after the age of 80.

Polymorbidity

Depression in the elderly is not quite different from the adult’s depression. After the age of 65, polymorbidity (association of several diseases in the same patient) is very frequent. The somatic disorders - cardiovascular, digestive, respiratory, loss of weight - raise several questions as concerns the positive and differential diagnosis. 20-30% of the patients have a depression which is mostly masked by an organic symptomatology. The visceral symptomatology is expressed subjectively only under the form of cenestopathic symptoms of a hypochondriac type. These symptoms mostly occur in adult women. Certain disorders which point out "de facto" a visceral suffering may be wrongly assigned to a depressive state. The phenomenologic analysis of depression’s symptomatology will reveal the circadian variation, much more obviously in the morning when the incidence of suicide is at its greatest.

Therapy

Any depressive symptom may impair life’s quality, so a therapy is absolutely necessary. The treatment may be medical and psycho-social. To be effective, the treatment should be administered over a period of time and in optimum doses.

Since 1945, Prof. Aslan had been injecting procaine into patients with painful arthritis in order to relieve their joint pains. Many of her patients noted an improving memory, less depression, more energy and a generalised feeling of well-being. These results encouraged her to carry out additional studies to test the effects of procaine on thousands of patients. She found that by adding an antioxidant, the procaine molecule was stabilized and the effects were more than with procaine alone. She called her improved form, Gerovital-H3.

Aslan said that "due to the effects of its main active elements, the procaine and procaine’s metabolites - paraaminobenzoic acid (PABA) and diethylaminoethanol (DEAE) -, Gerovital-H3 belongs to Pregeriatric and Geriatric drugs having an eutrophic effect on the organism". Starting from 1949, she noticed an obvious improvement of the physical state in old people. Gerovital-H3 acts upon the human body participating in the regulation of the intermediary metabolism, acetylcholine synthesis and inhibits the monoamineoxidase (MAO). MAO is an enzyme that catalyses the breakdown of monoamines (dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine) which play a transmitter role between nervous cells. A MAO inhibitor blocks a breakdown of certain monoamine neurotransmitters and that can used to treat depression. Robinson and his colleague, in the ‘Lancet’ magazine, Feb.,1972 (1), showed that starting around the age of 40, the level of MAO increase is directly related to the aging process and depression phenomena.

Gerovital-H3 has a certified antidepressive effect, especially in light and moderate depressive syndrome, thanks to its MAO-inhibitory effect. The antidepressive effect of Gerovital-H3 as well as the lack of any side effects can be accounted on the fact that it is a reversible and competitive-MAO inhibitor.

Paul Luth (2) mentioned that "procaine influence on the patient’s psychic condition was signalled for the first time in the medical literature by Aslan". Subsequent to Aslan’s investigations on the psychic effect of procaine (3), Pfeiffer (4) carried out pharmacological studies on demethylaminoethanol (DMAE) action and noticed a mental stimulation. This study placed emphasis on the relations existing between DMAE and acetylcholine. DMAE breaks through the blood-brain barrier taking part in the metabolic process of the nervous cells fixing their proteic and lipid fractions and changes into choline and acetylcholine.

Hrachovec, from Los Angeles University, published in 1972 the results of a comparative study showing that Gerovital-H3 has an inhibitory effect upon the MAO-brain, liver and the heart of the rabbit (5).

Gerovital-H3 Mechanisms

Yau made a pharmacological study upon Gerovital-H3 and summarised as such its basic mechanisms (6):

•it competitively and reversibly inhibits the MAO;

•it acts as an antidepressive through the modification of the monoamine level in the brain and it is very selective in the oxidative desamination inhibition;

•the oxidative desamination of monoamines is done in such a way as to eliminate the hyper-blood-pressure peaks so typical after administering other MAO inhibitors.

McFarlane proved the increasingly inhibitory action of Gerovital-H3 upon MAO from 17.8% to 87.7% depending on the dose administered (7). McFarlane appreciated Robinson’s important contribution to the understanding of a biochemical modification connected with the ageing process. He noticed that Gerovital-H3 induces a stronger MAO inhibition than the normal procaine hydroclorate and its action is reversible and competitive (8).

Depression Treatment

William Zung from Duke University, North Carolina, applied Gerovital-H3 treatment for 28 days, using the double-blind method, on three groups of patients who suffered from depression (9). One group of patients aged 60 were submitted - before, during and after the treatment - to a battery of psychological tests (Zung is the author of a well-known scale of psychological tests) which proved the Gerovital-H3 efficiency in the treatment of depression.

In a double-blind study (10) conducted on depressive patients, the antidepressive effect of Gerovital-H3 was evaluated by means of psychiatric and psychological investigations. The tests on depression showed a higher percentage of improvement for Gerovital-H3 treated patients. The following items were alleviated: depressed mood, sociability and fatigue-70%, agitation-60%, anxiousness and hypochondriasis-45%.

Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw noted in their book, "Life Extension" (a national best-seller): "here is how you might be able to better handle depression... MAO increases in activity with age, thus resulting in lowered levels of these signal-transmitting brain chemicals. Procaine - or the procaine compound Gerovital-H3 (GH3) developed by Dr. Ana Aslan of Romania, is a mild reversible MAO inhibitor. When using most MAO inhibitors, it is necessary to avoid excessive dietary intake of monoamine precursors such as the amino acids tyrosine and phenylalanine to avoid too high levels of the monoamines, which can lead to higher blood pressure. Procaine - or GH3 - does not interfere".

Recently, I did a double-blind study (unpublished) on 50 patients with low, moderate and severe depression. After two series of treatments, the difference was statistically significant between the patients with Gerovital-H3 and placebo. The Hamilton score was constantly positive and the medium reduction was significant (p=0.0001) much more so for Gerovital-H3 than for the placebo. All the statistics were proved with the technique of Covariance analysis.

REFERNCES

1. Robinson D.S.et al.: Aging. Monoamine and Monoamineoxidase Levels. Lancet, 1972, p.290.

2. Luth P.: Uber die Allgemeinwirkung des Procains in ihren Zusammenhang mit Gehirnstoffwechsel. Arztl. Forsch. 1959, 4, p.177-186.

3. Aslan Ana: Novokain als Eutrophischer Faktor und die Moglichkeit einer Verlangerung der Lebensdauer. Therapeutische Umschau, 1956, 9, p.165-172.

4. Pfeiffer C.C. and al.: Stimulant Effect of 2-Diethylaminoethanol a Possible Precursor of Brain Acethylcholin. Science, 1957, 3274, p.610.

5. Hrachovec D.J.: Inhibitory Effect of Gerovital-H3 on MAO of Rat Brain, Liver and Heart. The Physiologist, 1972, 15, p.3-20.

6. Yau T.M.: Gerovital-H3, MAO and Brain Monoamines. Symp. on Theoretic Aspects of Ageing. Florida, Miami, Febr. 1974.

7. McFarlane M.D.: Procaine (Gerovital-H3) Therapy: Mechanism of Inhibition of MAO. J. of Amer. Geriatrics Soc. 1974, XXII/8, p.365-371.

8. McFarlane M.D.: Aging, Monoamine and MAO Blood-levels. Lancet, 1972,II, 7772, p.337.

9. Zung W.W. et al.: Pharmacology of Depression in the Aged: Evaluation of Gerovital-H3 as an Antidepressant Drug. Psychosomatics, 1974, 15, p.127-131.

10. Balaceanu C.S. et al.: Double blind Study Concerning the Antidepressive Effects and the Clinical Tolerance of Gerovital-H3. Romanian J. of G. & Geriatrics, 1996, Tome 1-2, Vol. 17, p.46-61.

11. Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw: "Life Extension", 1983, Printed in the USA, A Time Warner Company.

The following article is copyrighted and intended for private viewing only.  It cannot be copied without the written permission of International Antiaging Systems, Box 337A GY1, Channel Islands, Great Britain.

Gerovital-H3 treatment in Osteoarthritis
by Mircea Dumitru M.D., PhD.

In 1946, Aslan published her first research on Novocaine (1). In 1951, she studied the effect of procaine on experimental arthritis (2).

"After the first results with Novocaine injections, I tried this treatment on patients with arthritis and those with a tendency to ankylosis. Because these diseases are chronic, I administered novocaine for each patient with more injections. With great joy, I noticed an improvement in the local symptoms, and even more importantly a great improvement in their overall general condition. Before the treatment, the patients avoided any movement due to pain and now they were willing and wanting to walk, sitting up to read and talking. The biggest reward was noticing an increase in their interest in life and for their family".

Aslan remembered, too: "On April 15, 1949- an American GI, with arthritis arrived in my clinic. He had terrible pains and his articulations were blocked. I explained to him my ideas about novocaine and after receiving his permission, I gave him an intra-arterial injection with 1-% novocaine. After 10 to 15 minutes, his knee was mobile and he could flex his leg outright. What happiness! I administered his treatment for a further two weeks and he was completely recovered" (3).

Clinical (5,6,7,8,9) and experimental studies (2,10) previously conducted by Aslan et al. have pointed out the effects of Gerovital-H3 therapy in arthritis. Concerning the chronic degenerating disease under the effect of the eutrophic Gerovital-H3 treatment, an obvious amelioration of the clinical signs was particularly noticed in osteoarticulary diseases (11,12,13). In a study performed in 1982 (4) on 2643 patients, Aslan noticed that it became evident that pains ceased in 62.2% of the patients, and articulary mobility and periarticulary muscular tonus were ameliorated in 51.8% of the cases. Repeated radiological examinations indicated a gradual amelioration of osteoporosis and other dystrophic osteoarticulary modifications.

I conducted a study on 100 elderly patients admitted to the National Institute of Gerontology and Geriatrics (NIGG) in Bucharest. They were aged 60 to 89 and suffering from moderate to severe arthritis involving one or more joints. Two groups of 50 patients were made up being very similar in age, sex and rheumatic diseases.

In both groups, arthritis involved more often the spine than the peripheral joints, in which hip-arthritis was slightly less prevalent than knee-arthritis, the latter being more frequent in women than men did. Patients with severe organ or system pathology were not included. No patient with abarticular rheumatism was included in the groups under study, nor patients with clinical, paraclinical or radiological signs suggesting another type of rheumatism, nor those having a positive test for the rheumatoid arthritis. I noted a significant number of patients suffered from Heberdenosis, which was much more frequent in women than in men.

Two reasons for admission of the patients included pains in the affected joints, limitation of movements, myalgia, joint swelling and declining muscular strength. The patients under study were divided into the following clinical forms who display joint pains persisting at rest; moderate limitation of movements (with 10% to 30% of the normal joint movement capacity; accompanying phenomena which point to ‘warm up’ arthritis processes-rubor, swelling, heat; reduction of joint space and the presence of osteophytes (diagnosed radiologically). Severe forms with marked pains; who display over 30% deficits of joint function; marked joint swelling; a certain degree of invalidity that forced the patient to use an aid such as a stick or frame- for walking.

Radiologically, the patients displayed reduction of joint space and osteophytosis.

The distribution of these two clinical forms was sensibly equal.

As far as associated morbidity of the patients is concerned, the obvious prevalence of cardio-vascular diseases was first followed in order by neuro-psychiatric, respiratory and digestive complaints.

Gerovital-H3 treatment was administered to the patients in the first group as follows: one i. m. injection daily in the morning for 18 days, followed by 12 days of Gerovital-H3 pills, twice daily: 9:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. Similarly, the patients in the second group received Placebo injections and pills. No other drug was given, nor any local therapy applied.

Treatment efficacy was assessed by comparing prior and post-treatment values of the following parameters recorded in all patients of the two groups:

•pain as a subjective parameter and its characteristics;

•joint mobility assessed by goniometry and movements based on tests specific to each joint;

•muscular tone by muscular check-up;

•accompanying phenomena: joint swelling, instability, crepitations;

•overall functional capacity of joints affected by arthritis.

Some parameters reflecting the patients’ general condition such as arterial blood pressure, cyrcadian rhythms and psychic state were also checked in parallel. In the two groups (Gerovital-H3 and Placebo) the clinical signs of progress was recorded as the following:

In the Gerovital-H3 group the following was recorded:

(1). Pain: A remarkable alleviation in 34% of cases, satisfactory alleviation in 54% of cases and no effect in just 12% of the cases;

(2). Joint Mobility: Improved in 56% of cases and remaining unchanged in the rest;

(3). Muscular Tone: Improved in 41% of cases and no change in the rest.

I didn’t notice any side effects during the treatment with Gerovital-H3.

For the Placebo group:

(1). Pain: A satisfactory alleviation in only 11% of cases and no influence upon the remaining ones;

(2). Joint Mobility: Improved in only 4% of cases and there was no change for the rest;

(3). Muscular Tone: Unchanged in 100% of the patients.

Conclusions

Clinical symptoms dominated by pain and limitation of movements was positively influenced in the case of the first group of patients, (i.e. those under Gerovital-H3 treatment). Their psychic condition was obviously improved. The small amount of positive outcomes recorded in the patients from the second group, (i.e. the Placebo group) by the slight alleviation of joint pains can be explained in terms of the patients resting while hospitalized, which is likely to have diminished the degree of pain felt.

Previous studies carried out at the National Institute of Gerontology and Geriatrics in Bucharest have proved that Gerovital-H3 exerts a beneficial effect on the vascular, nervous and metabolic components involved in the genesis of degenerative rheumatism (4,6,7,8,10,11,12). The positive properties of Gerovital-H3 treatment can be explained as:

(A). The antalgo action either controlling or reducing the pain caused by irritation of the nervous network from the spongious or by osteophitic presence;

(B). The anti-inflammatory effect exerted through the AMPc, stimulated by the moderate rise in circulating catecholamine levels;

(C). Improvement of capillary permeability and the favourable intervention in the bioenzymatic disorders at the level of the joint cartilage considered primum movens in the process of joint degeneration.

Gerovital-H3 can be the drug of choice in the management of arthritis in Geriatrics, because of its beneficial effects on the distressing, sometimes invalidating clinical phenomena and because of its paucity of side effects.

REFERENCES

1. Aslan A., Rosenzweig S.: L’action de la novocaine injectee hans la veine chez l’homme. Bull. Acad. Med. Roumaine, 1946, 7, p. 891-900.

2. Aslan A. et al.: The effects of procaine on experimental arthritis induced in albino rats. Com. Acad. Romainia, 1950. 1, 11-12, p. 1110-1116.

3. Aslan A. et al.: Intra-atrerial treatment with procaine in arthritis. Bull. St. Acad. Bucharest, 1950, II, 7, p. 891.

4. Aslan A. et al.: Peculiarities of chronic degenerative rheumatism in the aged and the efficiency of Gerovital-H3 therapy. Romanian J. Geront. & Geriatrics, 1982, 3, 1, 3-13.

5. Aslan A., David C.: Ergebnisse der Novocainbehandlung-Stoff H3- bei dysmetabolischen Arthropathien. Therapie Woche-Karlsruhe, 1957, 8, 19-23.

6. Aslan A.: Longitudinal Study in the National Institute of Gerontology & Geriatrics of Romania. J. Geront. & Geriatrics. 1980, 1, 2, 179-187.

7. Aslan A. et al.: The Parenteral Therapy with Gerovital-H3 in the Aged with Degenerative Rheumatism. Romanian J. Geront. & Geriatrics. 1983, 4, 3, 151-158.

8. Barsan M., Rodica P.: Cervical Spondylodiskarthrosis in the Elderly and Gerovital-H3 Treatment. Romanian J. Geront. & Geriatrics. 1985, 6, 1, 35-42.

9. Aslan A.: The Therapeutics of Old Age. The Action of Procaine. Congr. of the Intern. Assoc. of Geront., 1960, San Francisco. Medical and Clinical Aspects of Aging. H. T. Blumenthal, Ed., Columbia Univ. Press, New York, USA, 1962, 4, p. 272-292.

10. Matei V.Cet al.: The Effects of Gerovital-H3 Treatment on Antigen-Induced Arthritis in Rabbits. Romanian J. Geront. & Geriatrics. 1984, 5, 1, 55-63.

11. Aslan A., David C. et al.: Gerovital-H3 Original Product. Ed. Ministry of Chemical Industry. Bucharest, 1977.

12. Aslan A.: Theoretical Bases of Procaine Therapy in the ‘Prophilaxis of Ageing. Romainan J. Geront. Geriatrics. 1980, 1, 1, 5-15.

13. Dumitru M. et al.: Double Blind Study on Gerovital-H3 Treatment in the Elderly with Arthritis. Romanian J. Geront. Geriatrics. 1985, 6, 4, 257-263.

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