Dissimilar effects in acute toxicity studies of CDP-choline and choline.

The LD50 and LD0 of choline HCl and cytidine diphosphate choline (CDP-choline, citicoline, Somazina) by oral and intravenous route at equivalent doses of choline for both compounds were determined. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results obtained lead to the conclusion that choline shows a remarkable cholinergic action, while CDP-choline both orally and intravenously does not cause any cholinergic intoxication in the treated groups, like those recorded for choline administration. It should be emphasized that when the quantity of choline contained in CDP-choline administered was identical to that of choline with which the animal group was treated showing signs of cholinergic crisis, the animals corresponding to CDP-choline did not show any of these symptoms. Objective evaluation showed that CDP-choline by oral and intravenous route does not behave like a choline groups donator, at least not with an intensity which would make us believe that its only action was due to the increased levels of choline; this proves that CDP-choline administration yields clearly differentiated metabolic consequences from those yielded by choline administration.