[Nootropic preparations, the achievements and new problems].

Recent studies in the field of molecular neurochemistry have demonstrated new mechanisms of regulation of the processes of training and memory, and on the basis of this new nootropic agents have been created. This work analyses in detail the most promising directions of research into the development of new nootropics acting on the deficiencies of synaptic transmission (cholinergic, glutamatergic. GAMA-ergic), free-radical affections, and peptidergic processes. Chemical heterogeneity, the wide variety of effects, and the difference in the mechanisms of action of the family of nootropics creates essential difficulties in the definition, classification, and determination of the mechanism of the nootropic effect proper, which is a frequent cause of the disagreement between the experimental and clinical data. Discussion of these problems is the subject of the present article.