Citicholine. Supplementation.
Side Effects & Safety.
Citicoline is POSSIBLY SAFE when taken by mouth short-term (up to 90 days). The safety of long-term use is not known. Most people who take citicoline don’t experience problematic side effects. But some people can have side effects such as trouble sleeping (insomnia), headache, diarrhea, low or high blood pressure, nausea, blurred vision, chest pains, and others.Special
Precautions & Warnings:
Pregnancy and breast-feeding: There is not enough reliable information about the safety of taking citicoline if you are pregnant or breast-feeding. Stay on the safe side and avoid use.
Uses & Effectiveness?
Possibly Effective for
Age-related memory problems. Taking citicoline seems to help memory loss in people aged 50 to 85 years.
Long-term blood circulation problems in the brain (cerebrovascular diseases). There is some evidence that taking citicoline by mouth or injecting citicoline into the vein or muscle might improve memory and behavior in patients with long-term cerebrovascular diseases, such as stroke.
Stroke recovery. Stroke patients who take citicoline by mouth within 24 hours of having the kind of stroke that is caused by a clot (ischemic stroke) are more likely than other ischemic stroke patients to have a complete recovery within 3 months. Stroke patients who receive intravenous (IV) citicoline within 12 hours of having an ischemic stroke and daily thereafter for 7 days also have improved recovery.
Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.Some evidence suggests that taking citicoline by mouth might improve learning, memory and information processing (cognitive function) in people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease.
Cocaine addiction. Early research suggests that taking citicoline might reduce cocaine use in people with bipolar disorder and cocaine addiction.
Memory. Early research suggests that taking citicoline might improve memory, learning, and speaking ability in people with brain injury due to trauma. Other research suggests that citicoline might improve some aspects of memory in elderly people.
Attention deficit-hyperactive disorder (ADHD).
Dosing.
The following doses have been studied in scientific research:
BY MOUTH:
For decline in thinking skills due to age: 1000-2000 mg of citicoline per day.
For ongoing disease of the blood vessels that serve the brain (chronic cerebrovascular disease): 600 mg of citicoline per day.
For immediate treatment of stroke due to a clot (ischemic stroke): 500-2000 mg of citicoline per day starting within 24 hours of stroke.
INTRAVENOUS:Healthcare providers give citicoline intravenously (by IV) for age-related decline in thinking skills or for chronic cerebrovascular disease.
BY INJECTION:Healthcare providers give citicoline by shot for chronic cerebrovascular disease.
CDP-choline increases serum concentrations of free choline at doses as low as 500mg which tends to occur 2-3 hours after administration[19][4] and following ingestion of 1000mg CDP-choline it has been noted to reach a Cmax of 2.085+/-0.189 at a Tmax of 3.292+/-0.689 hours.
Advantages of Citicoline over Choline.
Citicoline may have some advantages over choline as a nutritional supplement since it also provides a source of cytidine, which has additional advantages in the synthesis of nucleic acids in the body. In addition, citicoline has been shown to elevate the levels of certain hormones, which can affect disorders such as depression and attention deficit disorder. Because citicoline is chemically synthesized, it is more expensive than choline, which is easily isolated from soybeans or eggs.
Bioavailability/Pharmacokinetics.
The pharmacokinetics of an oral dose of 14C-labeled citicoline have been studied in humans. Administration of a single 300 mg dose to healthy adults was shown to have a nearly complete absorption, with less than 1% of the labeled compound found in feces following a 5-day collection period. Absorption of citicoline gave rise to 2 chromatographic peaks in concentrations of radioactivity in the plasma, the first at 1 hour, and the second larger peak at 24 hours post-dosing. The main route of excretion was found to be via respiratory CO2, with significant excretion also occurring through the urine. After 5 days, 16% of the administered dose had been recovered, which suggests that the remainder had been incorporated into tissues or was available for biosynthetic and biodegradative pathways.