Efficacy of dimethylaminoethanol (DMAE) containing vitamin-mineral drug combination on EEG patterns in the presence of different emotional states.

The psychophysiological model of provoking different emotional states by watching film excerpts with various emotional contents was used to characterize drug action in 80 subjects (male/female=50%) with threshold emotional disturbance within a randomized, group-parallel, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Analyzing the brain's electrical reaction during presentation of 5 videoclips of 7 min duration followed by 3 minutes pause revealed a content specific representation of topographical frequency changes. This procedure was repeated after 6 and 12 weeks of daily intake of a vitamin-mineral drug combination containing dimethylaminoethanol (DMAE) (Vitagerin Geistlich N) or placebo. Subjects taking the active drug for 3 months developed significant less theta and alpha1 power in sensomotoric areas of the cortex. The grade of change and statistical significance was dependend on the content of the excerpt, but the pattern of changes in general remained the same. Since decreases in theta and alpha1 electrical power have been associated with increased vigilance and attention, subjects taking the drug combination obviously were more active and felt better. - Analysis of the emotional change in mood profile as induced by the TV session was achieved by completing two different quenstionaires (POMS and Bf-S). Both scores revealed a better mood for the active drug group thus corroborating the results from EEG analysis. Therefore the vitamine-mineral drug combination containing DMAE can be interpreted to induce a psychophysiological state of better feeling of wellbeing on both levels of analysis mood and electrical pattern of brain activity in subjects suffering from borderline emotional disturbance.