Pyritinol
Pyritinol, a nootropic. Two pyridoxine (vitamin B6) molecules joined by a disulfide bridge. The disulfide is lipophilic enough to cross the blood-brain barrier where…
Two pyridoxine (vitamin B6) molecules joined by a disulfide bridge. The disulfide is lipophilic enough to cross the blood-brain barrier where pyridoxine itself does not, and the compound is not a B6 vitamer in action — it does not raise pyridoxal-5-phosphate-dependent activity, and its reported effects on cholinergic transmission and cerebral glucose uptake are attributed to the intact molecule and its thiol metabolites rather than to B6 repletion. Marketed in Europe for cognitive disorders; associated with cholestatic hepatitis and pancreatitis on long use.
PubChem CID 14190 (C16H20N2O4S2). Dose range is the marketed Encephabol regimen (100-200 mg up to three times daily) and is NOT from a cited study. Mechanism reference PMID:3217429 (effects of pyritinol metabolites on ACh release from brain slices) — in vitro and rodent, so no Hill row is authored from it. Do not fold this record into pyridoxine: the disulfide is pharmacologically distinct and the identity-collision rule should not pair them.
Sources: PMID:5819373, PMID:3217429