Centrophenoxine

What Is Centrophenoxine?

Centrophenoxine (meclofenoxate) is a synthetic ester combining DMAE (dimethylaminoethanol) with a chlorophenoxyacetate moiety, marketed as a cholinergic nootropic and anti-ageing compound. It is best known in nootropic circles for claims about reducing lipofuscin — the “age pigment” that accumulates in cells — and improving “brain energy.” Much of the supporting work is decades old, based on animal models, or of limited clinical quality, so the human evidence should be read cautiously.

Evidence

The lipofuscin-reduction idea comes largely from older animal studies rather than robust human trials, and it is not consistently reproduced. On the clinical side, a double-blind trial in demented elderly people examined centrophenoxine’s effects on body composition and biochemical parameters ^{1Reference 1Fülöp T et al. · 1990RCTEffects of centrophenoxine on body composition and some biochemical parameters of demented elderly people as revealed in a double-blind clinical trial — randomised controlled trialView study →}; broader reviews of centrophenoxine in dementia describe the trials as small, methodologically weak and inconclusive. In this quick pass I did not find high-quality human evidence establishing that centrophenoxine improves cognition or reduces lipofuscin in people, so the popular “brain energy” and “age-pigment clearing” claims should be treated as unproven.

Dosage & Safety

Older clinical work has used gram-level daily doses (on the order of ~1–2 g/day) under study conditions; because the evidence base is thin and dated, no confident evidence-based dose is offered here, and this is not a personal recommendation. Centrophenoxine is a DMAE ester, so DMAE-related cautions plausibly apply. Interactions, pregnancy/lactation safety and long-term effects were not assessed in this pass; toxicity is not yet well characterised here.

References

1. Fülöp T, et al. (1990). Effects of centrophenoxine on body composition and some biochemical parameters of demented elderly people as revealed in a double-blind clinical trial — randomised controlled trial. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15374499/