5-10 mg (1-2 tablets or 20-40 drops) 3 times daily at regular intervals over prolonged periods of time. To facilitate absorption, take this medicine between meals.

The ability of the antidementia agent, nicergoline, to stimulate PKC mediated alpha-secretase amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing in cultured human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells was investigated. Western immunoblotting of cell conditioned media using the Mabs 22C11 and 6E10 revealed the presence of 2 bands with molecular mass of 90 and 120 kDa, corresponding to possible alternatively glycosylated forms of secreted APP (APPs). Short-term (30 min and 2 h) treatment of cells with nicergoline gave an increased intensity of both bands, compared to non-treated cells. Maximal nicergoline effects, of the order of 150-200% over basal APPs release, were seen at concentrations between 1 and 10 microM. 2 h treatment with nicergoline had no effect on cellular full-length APP levels. Immunoblotting with PKC isoform specific antibodies of soluble and membrane fractions prepared from 2 h treated cells, showed that nicergoline (50 microM) induced translocation of PKC alpha, gamma and epsilon, but not PKC beta. These results indicate that nicergoline can modulate alpha-secretase APP processing by a PKC dependent mechanism that is likely to involve the gamma and epsilon isoforms of this enzyme.