The patients who need to facilitate wakefulness in them are advised to dose themselves with Modafinil 200 mg per day. The technique or the process which modafinil Provigil uses to advance wakefulness is not known. Modafinil works in a way similar to the sympathomimetic agents such as amphetamine and methylphenidate in order to promote wakefulness in the patients. However, Modafinil is composed of different set of ingredients and exhibits properties which are different from the properties of sympathomimetic agents.
Modafinil interacts with the receptors for norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine, GABA, adenosine, histamine – 3, melatonin, benzodiazepines etc in a very weak or negligible manner. The various tasks carried out by MAO-B or phosphodiesterases II-V are not suppressed by modafinil provigil.
Alpha1 – adrenergic receptor antagonist prazosin can be effectively used to boost the level of wakefulness which is caused by the action of Modafinil. The other in – vitro assay systems which are capable of responding to alpha – adrenergic agonists like rat vas deferens preparation suppress the effects of modafinil provigil and inactivate it.
Modafinil is not a form of dopamine receptor agonist which works directly or indirectly. However when modafinil provigil is tested in an artificial environment, it is capable of suppressing the repeated consumption of dopamine by binding itself to the dopamine transporter.
However, when the same experiment was repeated inside the body of some animals, the concentrations of dopamine increased in certain parts of the brain. A mouse which is genetically engineered doesn’t possess the dopamine transporter. It was found in such animals which lack dopamine transporter that Modafinil had failed to promote wakefulness.
These experiments proved that modafinil provigil can promote wakefulness successfully if the animals contain dopamine transporter. The effects of Modafinil which correspond to wakefulness are not opposed by the dopamine receptor antagonist haloperidol which is found in rats. Alpha methyl p tyrosine is capable of inhibiting the production of dopamine.
The tasks carried out by amphetamines are blocked by this compound. However, the wakefulness promoting mechanism of modafinil provigil is not inhibited by this compound.
An equivalent dose of methylphenidate and amphetamine promotes wakefulness and increases the activation of nerves throughout the brain in cats. However, similar doses of Modafinil are capable of promoting activation of nerves in some selected regions of the brain. The cause of this variation is still not known. Modafinil is capable of promoting wakefulness in humans and increases the activities related to locomotion.
Dosages of modafinil provigil may also result in psychoactive and euphoric effects, mood swings, changes in perception, thinking, feelings etc. Modafinil is also capable of exhibiting reinforcing features.
This statement was proved when it was found that the monkeys which were addicted to cocaine dosed themselves with modafinil. Modafinil is made up of 2 major metabolites which are modafinil acid and Modafinil sulfone. These 2 metabolites of Modafinil are not responsible for properties which activate the central nervous system.