3,7-ジヒドロ-7-[2-ヒドロキシ-3-[(2-ヒドロキシエチル)メチルアミノ]プロピル]-1,3-ジメチル-1H-プリン-2,6-ジオン

Reports indicate that xanthinol increases blood flow in the vascular beds. The use of xanthinol in clinical trials have reported improvements in the performance of healthy elderly individuals in short- and long-term memory tests. The later effect is explained by the enhancing on the cell metabolism and oxygen supply in the brain by the rise of ATP in erythrocytes which allows penetration into capillaries easier and a higher oxygen pressure in the capillary blood which improves oxygenation of surrounding tissue.

The positively charged xanthinol ion is thought to help the transportation of the nicotinic acid into the cell since the later cannot freely diffuse through the cell membrane. The mechanism of action is thought to be related to present influence in the cell metabolism through the nucleotides NAD and NADP. Also, the nicotinic acid is a coenzyme for a lot of proteins involved in tissue respiration (Embden-Meyerhof and citrate cycle). The effect of xanthinol nicotinate causes an increase in glucose metabolism and energy gain.

As part of the metabolism of xanthinol, there is a formation of two metabolites that correspond to stereoisomeric forms of 2-coffeinyl-N-methyl-6-hydroxy-morpholines. These metabolites can be described structurally as semiacetals of a terminal aldehyde formed from xanthinol.

Xanthinol is readily absorbed in the body with an absorption half life of 0.4 h. After absorption, xanthinol nicotinate rapidly degardes into the negatively charged nicotinic acid and the positively charged xanthinol ion.

In urine, the two stereoisomeric forms of the xanthinol metabolites represents about 7-8% of the eliminated xanthinol.

The volume of distribution of xanthinol is 0.93 L/kg.