Vinpocetine is a synthetic ethyl ester of apovincamine, an alkaloid from the leaves of the Lesser Periwinkle (Vinca minor) discovered in the late 1960s. It has been used in humans for over 20 years but only limited research is available. It increases blood flow to the brain and oxygen utilization by the brain.  It is promoted by herbal industry and available for $6 per month for the most researched dosage of 10 mg. three times a day. (www.puritan.com).  It has very few side-effects.

Vinpocetine has helped in 3 double-blind studies of dementia, although all three studies are less than ideal.  One double-blind study for benefit for stroke patients if started early.  

Although the research is very inadequate, the very low cost, the low side-effect profile, and the inadequacy of other treatments make vinpocetine tempting. (10/11/04)

Bladder Urgency: Vinpocetine May Help: PDE 1 inhibitor vinpocetine in patients not responding to standard anticholinergic therapy in the treatment of urgency, urge incontinence and, possibly, low compliance bladder and interstitial cystitis. A larger randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial with vinpocetine show a tendency in favor of vinpocetine over placebo; however, statistically significant results were documented for one parameter only. This might be due to the rather low dosage chosen and the small sample size. Due to intracellular second messenger regulation of smooth muscle tone, phosphodiesterases (PDEs) are an attractive pharmacological targets. There are 5 in all. A PDE 5 specific inhibitor is sildenafil (Viagra). Germany. Phosphodiesterase 1 inhibition in the treatment of lower urinary tract dysfunction: from bench to bedside. Truss MC, Stief CG, Uckert S, Becker AJ, Wefer J, Schultheiss D, Jonas U. World J Urol. 2001 Nov;19(5):344-50

Dementia: Vinpocetine Helps Dementia in 3 DB Studies:  Reviewers found 3 quality studies covering 583 people with dementia treated with vinpocetine or placebo for degenerative or vascular dementia. The results show benefit associated with treatment with vinpocetine 30 mg/day and 60 mg/day compared with placebo, but the number of patients treated for 6 months or more was small. Only one study extended treatment to one year. Romania. Vinpocetine for cognitive impairment and dementia. Vinpocetine appears to have few side-effect. Szatmari SZ, Whitehouse PJ. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2003;(1):CD003119; 

Dementia: Vinpocetine Helps Dementia in DB: In a DB PC study of 203 patients with "organic psychosyndromes, the three groups received 10 mg or 20 mg three times a day, or placebo for 16 weeks. Both vinpocetine treatments did better with 30mg as well or better than 60mg. There were no significant side-effects. England. Efficacy and tolerance of vinpocetine in ambulant patients suffering from mild to moderate organic psychosyndromes. Hindmarch I, Fuchs HH, Erzigkeit H. Univ Surrey. Int Clin Psychopharmacol. 1991 Spring;6(1):31-43

Dementia: Vinpocetine Helps Dementia in DB: In a DB PC study of 42 chronic cerebral dysfunction patients, half received vinpocetine 10 mg three times a day for 30 days then 5 mg three times a day for 60 days or placebo for 90 days. The vinpocetine group did consistently better on CGI, SCAG (Sandoz Clinical Assessment Geriatric Scale), and MMSQ (Mini Mental Status Questionnaire) testing. England. A double-blind placebo controlled evaluation of the safety and efficacy of vinpocetine in the treatment of patients with chronic vascular senile cerebral dysfunction. Balestreri R, Fontana L, Astengo F. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1987 May;35(5):425-30 

Stroke: Patients Helped by Vinpocetine in Small Study: In a DB PC study of 30 acute ischaemic stroke patients within 72 h of stroke onset, either low-molecular weight dextran alone or in combination with vinpocetine was given. Poor outcome was defined as being dead or having a Barthel index of < 70 or a Rankin score of 3--5. For vinpocetine, the relative risk (RR) reduction of poor outcome at 3 months was 30% (RR = 0.7). The National Institute of Health (NIH--NINDS) Stroke Scale score was marginally significantly better in the vinpocetine treated group at 3 months of follow-up (P = 0.05). No significant adverse effects were seen. Vinpocetine treatment in acute ischaemic stroke: a pilot single-blind randomized clinical trial. Feigin VL, Doronin BM, Popova TF, Gribatcheva EV, Tchervov DV., Novosibirsk, Russia. Eur J Neurol. 2001 Jan;8(1):81-5

Stroke: Vinpocetine Increases Brain Blood Flow and Oxygen: In a DB PC study of 43 patients with ischemic stroke, a single 20 mg. i.v. infusion of vinpocetine increased cerebral perfusion and parenchymal oxygen extraction. Vinpocetine increases cerebral blood flow and oxygenation in stroke patients: a near infrared spectroscopy and transcranial Doppler study. Bonoczk P, Panczel G, Nagy Z. Budapest, Hungary. J Ultrasound. 2002 Jun;15(1-2):85-91

Other Research

Memory: Vinpocetine Said to Help Memory in Very Small, Very Short Study: 12 normal female adults for 2 days received 10, 20, or 40 mg three times a day. Improvement was noted only on memory scale. Psychopharmacological effects of vinpocetine in normal healthy volunteers. Subhan Z, Hindmarch I. Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 1985;28(5):567-71.

Memory: Vinpocetine/Ginkgo Helped Memory Speed in Normals: A Scripps Institute study with 24 normal adults in a DB crossover study of 14 days on placebo and 14 days on the supplement. Ginkgo biloba/Vinpocetine sped up short-term working memory processing. Cognitive effects of a Ginkgo biloba/vinpocetine compound in normal adults: systematic assessment of perception, attention and memory. Polich J, Gloria R. Hum Psychopharmacol. 2001 Jul;16(5):409-416.

Vinpocetine Basic Research: In cell cultures, piracetam and vinpocetine exert cytoprotective activity and prevent apoptosis of astrocytes in vitro in hypoxia and reoxygenation. Gabryel B, Adamek M, Pudelko A, Malecki A, Trzeciak HI. Neurotoxicology. 2002 May;23(1):19-31