Cerebrolysin

ID: cerebrolysin

Aliases: CEREBROLYSIN, porcine brain peptide mixture

Type: compound

Route/form: IV or IM injection in regional clinical use

Status: approved_in_some_countries

Evidence level: human RCT

Best data tier: human controlled/review; exact-use indirect

Support scope: human

Source types: human_rct, systematic_review

Linked sources: 3

Broad outcomes: Brain / mood / sleep

Reading note: These are curation notes anchored to linked sources, not a clinical recommendation or protocol.

Targets / mechanism

• neurotrophic peptide mixture
• stroke recovery and neurorehabilitation endpoints
• neuronal survival/plasticity hypotheses

Optimization domains

• brain
• stroke
• traumatic brain injury
• neurorehabilitation
• cognition

Research basis

• Multiple human trials exist in stroke/TBI rehabilitation contexts.
• More evidence-backed than typical nootropic research peptides, though still indication-specific.

Limits, risks, and missing evidence

• Systematic reviews have raised mixed efficacy and safety interpretation issues, including no clear all-cause mortality benefit in acute ischemic stroke.
• The Cochrane acute ischemic stroke review reports a potential increase in non-fatal serious adverse events.
• Disease rehabilitation trials should not be generalized to healthy cognitive enhancement.

Risk flags

• regional drug
• biologic extract
• disease specific evidence
• mixed systematic review context
• nonfatal sae signal
• medical supervision

Linked papers, labels, and reviews

1. Cerebrolysin and Recovery After Stroke (CARS): a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, multicenter trial
   human_rct / pubmed_cerebrolysin_cars_2016
   Human stroke recovery RCT; disease-specific neurorehabilitation context.
2. Cerebrolysin and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in patients with traumatic brain injury: a randomized three-arm trial
   human_rct / pubmed_cerebrolysin_tbi_2023
   Human TBI trial; keep separate from generalized nootropic claims.
3. Cerebrolysin for acute ischaemic stroke
   systematic_review / pubmed_cerebrolysin_stroke_review_2020
   Cochrane systematic-review anchor; found no clear all-cause mortality benefit in acute ischemic stroke and a potential increase in non-fatal serious adverse events.