Gerovital H3 – a procaine-based Romanian drug developed and studied by prof. dr. Ana Aslan and pharm. Elena Polovrăgeanu in the sixties – is still extensively used in the prophylaxis of aging. We retrace the path of Gerovital from the “Aslan method” to the latest scientific evidence regarding its geroprotective action at cellular and molecular level. In the present work, we have briefly recounted the history of the discovery of procaine and Gerovital, and we examined the effects of these drugs described by indexed in the international scientific databases (Web of Science and PubMed), from the last 30 years. According to reviewed data, Gerovital and procaine displayed antioxidant and cytoprotective actions in experimental models of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury, lipoprotein oxidation, endothelial-dependent vasorelaxation, inflammation, sepsis, intoxication, ionizing irradiation, cancer and neurodegeneration. We describe the ways by which Gerovital and procaine modulate some of the fundamental mechanisms of the aging process: oxidative stress, inflammation, atherogenesis, neurodegeneration, DNA damage and methylation. Beyond its well-known anesthetic action as a “veteran” drug, procaine express a variety of biological and pharmacological effects, functioning as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, neuroprotective, radioprotective, cytoprotective and demethylating agent. Procaine is a geroprotective molecule that has not yet fully expressed its therapeutic potential in the treatment and prevention of aging-associated diseases.
Gradinaru et al. (Thu,) studied this question.