DMAE

Last Updated: September 28, 2022

DMAE is a choline molecule with one less methyl group, and has the ability to reduce build-up of the age pigmentation known as beta-amyloid. It is the active component of Centrophenoxine, or Lucidril, a pharmaceutical designed for cognitive health in the elderly.

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DMAE is most often used for.


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1.

Neurology

1.1

Rheology

DMAE (0.6% in vitro) appears to protect from iron-induced oxidation and subsequent protein cross-linking, thought to preserve membrane fluidity via anti-oxidative effects,[1] either directly or by preventing formation of Nitroxyl radicals (hydroxyl radical binding with hydroxyproline) by non-oxidatively sequestering hydroxyl radicals.[2]

1.2

Alzheimer's Disease

V0191 (DMAE Pyroglutamate) in 55-90 year old persons (mean age 72.2) with mild cognitive impairment taking 1500mg of the supplement daily at breakfast over 24 weeks noted that although there was a trend to more response with treatment than placebo (defined as more than a 4 point improvement on the ADAS-cog rating scale), there were no statistically significant improvements nor improvement on global assessments.[3]

1.3

Tardive Dyskinesia

DMAE supplementation has been shown in some studies to show an small albeit nonsignificant positive trend for symptoms in Tardive Dyskinesia[4], but typically it is seen as an ineffective treatment.[5][6]

2.

Interactions with Aesthetics

DMAE, in the form of facial cream, is being looked at for improving skin quality for aging skin when applied as a 3% facial cream.[7] It shows benefits in improving the appearance of coarse wrinkles, under-eye dark circles, nasolabial folds, sagging neck skin, and neck firmness and is generally very well tolerated.

Most notably, DMAE as a facial gel increases skin firmness.[8][9]

3.

Safety and Toxicity

Although preliminary, it seems that DMAE may aggravate or induce the formation of neural tube defects, as evidenced by in vitro studies on mouse embryonic cells.[10] Under normal conditions, rat embryos uptake choline and convert it into phosphatidylcholine(PC) as an active substrate. DMAE supplementation seems to replace choline usage when it is present due to higher affinity and competition but fails to convert into PC due to an apparent lack of expression of the enzyme phosphatidylethanolamine methyltransferase (PeMT) in embryos. This enzyme is absolutely necessary for the conversion of Phosphatidylethanolamine into PC.[11]

Essentially, DMAE competitively inhibits choline uptake during the first few days of neural tube formation (1-10 days after impregnation), but the embryo is not yet able to use DMAE as well as an adult due to an immature CDP-choline metabolic pathway and underexpression of key enzymes.

These mechanisms should not occur in adult cells due to the activity of the PeMT enzyme and a mature CDP-choline metabolic enzyme pathway.

References
1.^Nagy I, Nagy KOn the role of cross-linking of cellular proteins in agingMech Ageing Dev.(1980 Sep-Oct)
3.^Dubois B, Zaim M, Touchon J, Vellas B, Robert P, Murphy MF, Pujadas-Navinés F, Rainer M, Soininen H, Riordan HJ, Kanony-Truc CEffect of six months of treatment with V0191 in patients with suspected prodromal Alzheimer's diseaseJ Alzheimers Dis.(2012)
4.^Tammenmaa IA, Sailas E, McGrath JJ, Soares-Weiser K, Wahlbeck KSystematic review of cholinergic drugs for neuroleptic-induced tardive dyskinesia: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trialsProg Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry.(2004 Nov)
6.^Soares KV, McGrath JJThe treatment of tardive dyskinesia--a systematic review and meta-analysisSchizophr Res.(1999 Aug 23)
8.^Uhoda I, Faska N, Robert C, Cauwenbergh G, Piérard GESplit face study on the cutaneous tensile effect of 2-dimethylaminoethanol (deanol) gelSkin Res Technol.(2002 Aug)
10.^Fisher MC, Zeisel SH, Mar MH, Sadler TWPerturbations in choline metabolism cause neural tube defects in mouse embryos in vitroFASEB J.(2002 Apr)
11.^Hirata F, Viveros OH, Diliberto EJ Jr, Axelrod JIdentification and properties of two methyltransferases in conversion of phosphatidylethanolamine to phosphatidylcholineProc Natl Acad Sci U S A.(1978 Apr)