Cognitive Effects of Montelukast: A Pharmaco-EEG Study

Abstract

Montelukast is a well-established antiasthmatic drug with little side effects. It is a leukotriene receptor antagonist and recent research suggests cognitive benefits from its anti-inflammatory actions on the central nervous system. However, changes in brain activity were not directly shown so far in humans. This study aims to document changes in brain activity that are associated with cognitive improvement during treatment with Montelukast. We recorded EEG and conducted neuropsychological tests in 12 asthma-patients aged 38–73 years before and after 8 weeks of treatment with Montelukast. We found no significant changes on neuropsychological scales for memory, attention, and mood. In the EEG, we found decreased entropy at follow up during rest (p < 0.005). During episodic memory acquisition we found decreased entropy (p < 0.01) and acceleration of the background rhythm (p < 0.05). During visual attention performance, we detected an increase in gamma power (p < 0.005) and slowing of the background rhythm (p < 0.05). The study is limited by its small sample size, young age and absence of baseline cognitive impairment of the participants. Unspecific changes in brain activity were not accompanied by cognitive improvement. Future studies should examine elderly patients with cognitive impairment in a double-blind study with longer-term treatment by Montelukast.

Leukotriene receptor antagonists and risk of neuropsychiatric events in children, adolescents and young adults: a self-controlled case series

“…Moreover, there is increasing evidence that montelukast improves cognitive function in multiple cerebral pathologies [23][24][25][26].…”

DeepBiomarker2: Prediction of alcohol and substance use disorder risk in post-traumatic stress disorder patients using electronic medical records and multiple social determinants of health

“…Current controlled clinical trials have reported mild to infrequent adverse effects, which is indicative of montelukast being a safe and well tolerated medication. Montelukast improved learning and memory functions, followed by reduced neuroin ammation, restored blood brain barrier integrity and enhanced neurogenesis 92 . However, some case studies have reported positive dechallenge-rechallenge association, where in the adverse symptoms have resolved after treatment termination and returned after restarting the regimen [93][94][95] .…”

Spectroscopy- based development and validation of analytical technique for simultaneous estimation of bilastine montelukast

“…When 5 mg chewable tablets is administered then the Cmax is achieved 2 to 2.5 hours. [9,10] Distribution: Most of the drug more than 99 % is bound to plasma proteins. The bounded drug is distributed across the blood brain barrier.…”