Transcription
You want something that is going to help your brain protect, self-protect, and to also potentially does something that enhances or regenerates neurons, and that's what this is. And so when we're looking at uses, a lot of this is a neuroprotective use or cognition. Those are the two big things. We don't have any alternative options that are improving neurofunction right now. And they looked at again for motor neuron disorders. And so that's an ALS type of, you know, scenario where you actually have a motor neuron and significant movement disorder and improvement of that with motor testing and cognitive improvement with it. And we're talking about a peptide. So if you can look at something that doesn't have side effects, as more natural, ease of use, then there's at least good potential alternatives.
So welcome to the RMD podcast Channel with me, your host, Dr. Debra Durst. I am a traditionally trained physician with a practice now that specializes in regenerative medicine, and I have my co-host with me today. Hey guys, Farideh Golembiewski. I'm a board-certified family nurse practitioner, and I work alongside Dr. Durst at RevitalyzeMD. So what we are now able to do, do is actually comprehensively provide patients with non-traditional options that might not involve meds or surgery. And so what we're going to talk about today is a peptide, and it is called C-Max. So peptides are an exciting and progressive area of medicine because they are amino acids. That's what a peptide is, that are going to basically be synthetic and made, but they are naturally occurring peptide sequences or an analog of that in the body that that simulates a hormone or neurotransmitter in the body, gives the body back what it needs. And the first peptide was insulin. So we know that goes way back, and peptides work. Um, but we're going to talk about C-Max today, what it is, what it's used for, some studies related to it, and then at the very end, we'll talk about how we put it into practice with our, how to utilize it. That's it. Yeah.
So this one's exciting because it works on multiple different aspects. And it is, there are some studies. You know, we like to incorporate studies when we can. Unfortunately, because with peptides, they're not large studies, um, as Dr. Durst has pointed out on probably multiple of these podcasts, that when Selank, probably being the most recent one, absolutely, um, that a lot of research for, um, human studies are backed, take a lot of money, take a lot of time, and they are backed by, um, large pharmaceutical companies hoping to get a return on investment on that research. So when we are looking at things that are peptides or like peptides that are naturally occurring in the body, that those are not something that these pharmaceutical companies can turn around and market and sell. Yeah, it really comes down to being able to patent something. And so if it's naturally occurring, you have to change it in some way to be able to patent that and protect your investment. And if you're going to invest all that money in a study to bring it to market, you want to be able to protect that investment. It just makes sense. And so if it can't be patented, then you may not see large studies with it. And that frequently is the case with peptides. So, but there are studies, studies, but there are studies, studies, and they are great studies. Yes.
And so that's where we come in. Like, really, you want to see efficacy. You want to see that it works with something that maybe there aren't good alternatives for that in traditional medicine that are being used, and that it's safe. And safe, right? We want to see minimal negative side effects, um, with use. Yeah.
So C-Max, what is it? So we already talked about the fact that it's a peptide. A peptide is an amino acid sequence and again, simulates a hormone, a neurotransmitter in the body. And it is a synthetic analog of ACTH or adrenocorticotropic hormone, which again, it's an analog of that. But it doesn't have any hormonal effects at all. That's it. It bypasses the endocrine system. So that's amazing. Yeah. So it's the part of the ACTH or corticotropin hormone that, and again, we'll refer to it as ACTH if we happen to say it again, but it doesn't have the activity of the hormone as that component that makes up C-Max. And then they altered it on one end so that you get the central nervous system stability and effects where it can cross the blood-brain, blood-brain barrier. Yeah. And this one is typically used as a nasal spray. It is for us as a nasal spray. So that is a direct, immediate passage to the brain. If you think about the nose or the nasal passages are close to the brain. And if you're, you know, again, using a nasal spray, it's right in there. Um, if it has the capability of crossing the blood-brain barrier, which C-Max does. Absolutely.
And that, for those of you that don't know, ACTH plays a huge role in cortisol production in the body. So that's important to note as we go into kind of the side effects and what we use this for. So, um, again, we are able to bypass, um, use this to cross the blood-brain barrier and affect the central nervous system. Um, it does interact with neurotrophic factors, right? So that means that it can help support the growth, survival, and, um, maintenance of neurons. Yeah.
So if you look at neurotrophic, it's like going to help with cognition and memory. But most of those effects can be also related to an increase in what's called BDNF, which is brain-derived neurotrophic factor. And that is maintenance of neurons in the brain. It is key for brain cell survival. Yes, and protection. And it can also be for, again, neuron growth factors, um, and so neuroplasticity, all the things. Yeah. So this is what you want. You want something that is actually, so in simplicity, without talking all the science, you want something that is going to help your brain protect, self-protect, and to also potentially does something that enhances or regenerates neurons, and that's what this is. And so when we're looking at uses, a lot of this is a neuroprotective use, um, or cognition. Those are the two big things. So, so neuromodulators that can help affect mood, stress, cognition, um, and then reward-related behavior, right? Those are all things that can be positively affected. Yeah.
So for C-Max, particularly, there's really three main components that it looks at, which is that cognitive performance, which you kind of hit on already, the neuroprotection, and then there's also some gastroprotection. Yeah. And even a little bit of mood. But again, we talked about Selank, which, you know, we'll have the, the link at the end, and that's the one we were talking about at the beginning of the podcast that's more an anti-anxiety use. They do have similar properties. There's some differences that are key as well. But the use of Selank is mainly an anti-anxiety, but it has, again, that cognition and memory improvement, where this one more is more the neuroprotective cognition, yes, and less of the mood, although it does do that as well.
So there were some studies. So again, we'll always talk about studies. This one was first researched in the 1980s in Russia by the Academy of Sciences or Academy of Medical Sciences and researching it for what it could potentially affect and what it could be used with. It was actually brought to market 2011. So the Russian Federation government, yes, approved it in 2011, and then they put it on their list of vital and essential drugs. Yes, in 2012. Yeah. So this has been used in Russia and essentially over there, used for stroke, TIA, more neuroprotective, and even for eye issues like glaucoma and increased intraocular pressure and effect of that cognitive disorders such as dementia. Yes. Yeah.
So, so they've, this was developed back in the 80s in Russia. So back, they've been looking at C-Max as an option for these type of diagnoses since the 80s. Think about that. Think about how long this has been available in other countries. Yeah, it kind of blows my mind when you think about when we, when we kind of get a little bit more into the science and the studies of, we've gone this long and this is a newer peptide for us, or at least for me, and it was brought to our attention by a patient. Yeah, looking for, um, an option to a brain injury, neuroprotection, exactly. And so again, it, there's lots of, um, things that it can do with neuroprotection, anti-inflammatory. It protects against the, um, hypoxic effects, which are low oxygen in the brain. And so, and it actually even potentially could help with, um, the negative effects of a more chronic or moderate to chronic alcohol use as well. And so if you look at that, there's very little that can actually enhance some brain improvement when you have neurons that have been affected by alcohol use, either chronic or moderate or more in consumption. So, so that's another issue that there's lots of different ways it does that, and that BDNF is one of those.
So with the studies, basically with cognition being one of them, which is the neurotrophic effects. So it affects and improves cognition and memory. You know, not huge studies, but again, no adverse effects with these. And so that's one key thing. Um, but it was a small study with eight patients for one of them, and it was like a shift work. It wasn't long. It wasn't very long. It was an eight-hour shift. It's not like they were pushing 12 or 14-hour shifts. But even then, you know, significant improvement. Absolutely. They did one, um, that was posted for cognition performance in 1996. It was in the Neuroscience Research Communications. So again, this is another Russian journal, um, and they were looking at the effects. So the effects were lasting 24 hours from use. So that was kind of one of the things that what you did that day had a 24-hour, um, time frame on it. But they were looking at memory testing, um, and they showed that in the patients that used the nasal spray had a 71% accuracy rate on memory tests compared to the controlled group that only had a 41% accuracy. So even again, these are smaller groups, but even one use, mhm, they were showing that big of a difference, just memory. So on cognition, and it did actually have one with imaging with an MRI imaging and positive effects that they could see on MRI, you know, where it was stimulating, um, and potentially used even for ADHD, attention, you know, hyperactivity deficit disorder, which is very commonly diagnosed here and for children, and stimulants are used right now. So again, you're talking about FDA approval of drugs used for something that have side effects and they have addictive, you know, components and they also have withdrawal, so and abuse potential. Yeah.
So this one is, was actually helpful and MRI, um, you know, enhancement in one of the studies for 24 patients. And so, you know, those are at least you can see with imaging, and then you can see improvement with testing. So they're doing some objective measurements, um, in Russia to look at that. And so, and that was no negative side effects on that study. Yes. And there was benefit, memory, cognition, and, um, brain development. Yeah. Right. Yeah.
And stimulants are typically used there. So if we're just looking at typical things used for, um, these conditions, like cognition, I mean, Adderall is a common drug, U, used for that with people who have brain fog and they want some, you know, some attention focus, then it's, it's Adderall is a common use. And so if you can look at something that doesn't have side effects, as more natural, ease of use, and, um, then there's at least potential good potential alternatives. And unfortunately, Adderall, particularly, that's a medication that's abused, abused, and it's even a controlled substance. So that's a big deal. Um, so again, controlled substance when you're talking about substances that are controlled by the DEA. Controlled one is not legal for use and anything like marijuana, you know, again, LSD, illicit drugs, yeah, illicit drugs, LSD, all that, heroin. Those illicit drugs. So the next class is a class two, which is what Adderall is considered. You, you know, when you're looking at benzos, which we've talked about for anxiety and for Selank, then you're talking about a class four. So, so that's a big deal when you're using Adderall. Um, it's in the same family as opioids. Yes. Yeah. So just to put it into perspective. Yeah, that's a good perspective. Like, because again, there is that dependence, um, that's there, and sometimes then illicit, you know, kind of pathway happens as well.
Neuroprotection, did you find other studies with cognition? So that was the one outside of the two that we'd kind of talked about prior was that one with the looking at testing and short-term memory and long-term memory where they were seeing those accuracy changes. So when we're looking at these peptides, because they are not FDA approved in our country, and that they are something that is naturally occurring in the body, even though synthetically made in a lab, there are not a lot of large studies out there to pull from. Yes. Yeah. And we, you will hear us say that over and over again with peptides, only because again, sometimes, and there's what we're going to get to next, is actually one of those things where sometimes the three things that you really look for with these, because you're not going to find necessarily large studies. So the three things are, does it work? Are there any studies in humans that show any efficacy? Because you may not get large studies. Are there other effective alternatives for treatment? Um, and do those have side effects? And are there safety concerns with it? Because what we're going to get to next, which is actually what it's being used for in Russia, is for our primary focus of the medication, yeah, neuroprotection. And so when we get to this, we don't have a lot of medications that we can use in these conditions that are neuroprotective. But this potentially is something that can be used. And so stroke is one of those. Again, stroke, TIA, brain injury, um, and even optic issues or eye issues if they happen and have negative effects.
So one of the things that happens in a brain trauma or in a stroke is you have decreased oxygen and blood flow, but then you're going to have inflammatory changes. So if it helps repair hypoxic damage, radical free radicals that form, or even inflammation that forms after it, we don't have a lot of things that actually improve anything in the brain post-infarct. Yeah. And so, so in this study in particular, it was a 2018 study with 110 stroke patients. So that's pretty, that's a pretty big number when you think about it. They did intranasal dosing and they did two 10-day courses. So think about that, two 10-day treatments, so 20 days of treatment. And what they saw, saw was increased plasma BDNF levels and then improved motor performance, enhanced functional independence. And they did that off the Barthel Index scores, which is the index used. Hard for, yeah, I had to look at it because I want to make sure I pronounced it correctly, but that is the index used to assess, um, functional improvement in stroke patients. So that is the official index used, you know, the gold standard. And they saw across all those patients improvement in that motor function, um, and then, uh, functional independence. That is huge. It's huge. Like, again, we don't have any alternative options that are improving neurofunction right now. And they looked at again, um, for motor neuron disorders. And so that's an ALS type of, you know, scenario where you actually have a motor neuron and significant movement disorder and improvement of that with motor testing and cognitive improvement with it. And we're talking about a peptide, a peptide that we are not seeing negative side effects, that we are not seeing, um, negative effects from long use of this medication. So we know that it's, they've been studying it since the 80s, they've been using it in practice since 2011 in Russia, you know, a vital medicine in 2012 in Russia. And then we're not, what we're not seeing is damages from it, right? We're just seeing the benefits.
I was waiting for you to say something else because, you know what I'm gonna say. I know. Go for it. I, what we're not seeing is use here in the US. And we're not seeing use here. Yeah. So we don't have adverse effects, we don't have good alternatives, and it has been used in other countries. It's a peptide, it's internasal, it's ease of use for especially that type of patient. And, and so we're not using it here. So, and there's nothing currently that I could find clinically in study for us to even look at the use of this for traumatic brain injury or stroke, stroke, TIA, traumatic brain injury, motor diseases, motor neuron, exactly, optic, I mean, there's so much, there's dementia. It's crazy because even the dopaminergic effects, which is something that you see in Parkinson's, is also something that can be affected potentially with this. And I didn't see a huge part because, but neuroprotection is huge in Russia. That's what they're using it. And optic. So if you have a glaucoma, something that is affecting your intraocular pressure with maybe potentially some damage to the eye, this is another thing that they're using it for in Russia for protection. So, um, and with success. So like, yeah, with success. So not just using it, using with success. Yes.
So again, I would love to see, so we always talk, I hear a lot of, I would, you know, more studies are needed. We'd love to have more studies. Well, I would love to see more studies. I think that's great because it's something that is potential for use and we don't have other options. So yeah. But even, um, gastroprotection. So I found a study on the gastroprotection. So it was a 2002 study looking at potential gastroprotectiveness in anti-ulcer effects. And in that study, it showed, um, a healing rate in ulcers of 90% compared to the placebo group of 30%. 90% improvement in ulcers. And this is one that the Selank didn't show the gastric, you know, they're very similar and there's differences. And this one did not show, and this is C-Max. Yeah. We do have another option too that improves gastric issues and it's a peptide, BPC. So if you haven't seen that, um, podcast, then I would highly recommend that you look at that because that's one of those body protective complex 157 that works for GI stuff too. But that's, it's also known for inflammation. Yeah. I didn't, um, didn't know that it was for gastric, gastric. Yeah, it's huge.
There was some stuff on mood regulation, but the data was a little bit more scarce on from on my end of what I found because I found more on Selank. Well, it was more on rats with the C-Max for sharper mood. So less on people, more on rats. So there wasn't strong evidence to support that. But it does, you know, potentially have positive effects. So again, cognition, brain protection, potentially ADHD, um, and, you know, all those neuroprotective conditions that we would need neuroprotection with, but less with mood. So I think that again, we'll do a podcast, um, into the future of the Selank, C-Max, and kind of comparing and showing similarities and differences because they do overlap quite a bit and they can be stacked together depending on what the, what you've got going on. The important thing is there hasn't been adverse effects. They both are nasal, they can be alternated and used together. And so those are things to think about. Um, again, dosing depends on your physician, whether you even have an indication for it. So you need to be evaluated by a physician or provider, and that needs to be dosed. They are prescriptions. And so getting those illegally online is not something we promote. And, but we have said that in other podcasts. At least, yeah. So every peptide podcast. Yes. So, but again, let us know if you've had any experience with C-Max because we would love to hear your experience and definitely let us know your comments and if you want to hear anything else because we are willing to deep dive into anything wellness or sexual wellness.