Drug Discovery by Neurophysiological Methods

To discover new drugs asks for very sensitive methods which are not biased. Use of neurophysiological methods provides such an approach. Based on the recording of electrical brain activity central effects of drugs on the brain can be characterized and recognized with respect to clinical indications by quantitative description of the signals by means of frequency analysis like used in astronomy and material testing. Feeding such data into discriminant analysis allows to separate even similar drugs from each other and succeeds in grouping of drugs with different clinical indications as documented below.

Drugs change the electrical activity of the brain in a predictable manner: Anticonvulsive drugs can easily be discriminated from narcotic, antidepressive , sedative , antidementive , neuroleptic , stimulatory, anorectic or hallucinatory drugs. Different positions in space and different colours signalize differences in their mechanism of action.

Depiction of mental work by source density analyis of the EEG

Recording of the human EEG followed by frequency analyis and performance of source density analysis results in a brain mapping system which allows to visualize mental work, emotions and other psychic reactions . During mathematical calculations mainly left frontal brain develops slow delta and theta electric power as depicted above. Patients suffering from dementia are not able to produce these waves in such strong manner. This can be used for diagnosis and treatment control.