Choline and Piracetam Synergism (Old Rat Study)

[muscleupcrohn]

It's commonly recommended that when you use a racetam, you should also take a choline source with it. The typical reasoning is that, since racetams can decrease acetylcholine levels, supplementing with a choline source will help prevent any side effects. Now, there's nothing wrong with this logic, but some people can, and do, use racetams without a choline source and don't experience any side effects, so don't see a real need to add a choline source to their racetam. I just came across an interesting old study (1981) using aged rats (yes, I know, not humans, and not even healthy/young rats), but I still found it interesting, and lends a bit more evidence to recommending that you should use a choline source with a racetam, not just to prevent potential side effects, but to potentiate the effects. With all that said, here's some info on the study:

Aged rats were given either 100mg/kg choline (equivalent to 1.12g for a 70kg human), 100mg/kg piracetam (also equivalent to 1.12g for a 70kg human), and were subject to a passive avoidance test. The choline group did not differ on the task compared to the control, and the piracetam group performed only slightly than the control rats, but rats given 100mg/kg of BOTH choline and piracetam "exhibited retention scores several times better than those given piracetam alone." Additionally, rats given twice the dose of either choline (equivalent to 2.24g for a 70kg human) or piracetam (also equivalent to 2.24g for a 70kg human) "still did not enhance retention nearly as well as when piracetam and choline (100 mg/kg of each) were administered together." Additionally, continued use (1 week) was found to be superior to acute use.

From the discussion of the study:

Several interesting findings have emerged from this series of studies. First, while choline was ineffective in improving retention, and piracetam was only marginal, the two agents together induced striking improvement on the task. Twice the dose of either piracetam or choline alone did not produce effects which even approached the combination, suggesting that the behavioral changes were due to some synergistic like
action of the two agents

The study also vioral effects of piracetam and choline treatment, we have analyzed brain regional content of choline and acetylcholine, and found:

The results obtained in these experiments suggest that the synergistic effect of choline plus piracetam combination is not simply due to an effect of piracetam on the uptake of Ch into the brain. The increase in regional Ch content was either the same or in fact, slightly less marked in rats receiving combination treatment than in those treated with either drug alone. After repeated piracetam treatment, a marked rise in Ch occurred specifically in the hippocampus. It is unclear at present whether this effect relates to an interaction of piracetam with phospholipid metabolism [43] or to a specific action on cholinergic mechanisms.

Here's the study:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7301036

Hopefully some of you find this interesting. I'm really just procrastinating doing real work.

TL;DR: It's probably a good idea to take your racetam with a choline source, even if you don't get any side effects from using the racetam alone.