Can Noopept Cause Anxiety?

Noopept is one of the most popular nootropics, also known as GVS-111. It is a synthetic nootropic that was developed using piracetam as the key structural starting point.

Noopept, and especially its major metabolite, has shown anxiolytic-like effects in rodent behavioral models, which have also been confirmed in the available human data. Thus, Noopept is typically considered to reduce rather than cause anxiety. 

Yet, similarly to other nootropics, Noopept may cause sleep disturbances, which can ultimately have negative consequences such as irritability and increased feelings of anxiety. These instances are considered rare and mainly only occur with wrong dosages.

Noopept is a water-soluble dipeptide derived from a design line connected to cycloprolylglycine and piracetam. 

On a structural level, it is described as a dipeptide conjugate of piracetam and appears to act largely through conversion to, and elevation of, cycloprolylglycine, which may account for part of its neurocognitive and mood-related signals in preclinical research. 

Noopept is frequently described as being far more potent than piracetam, with the most widely cited value being that Noopept is about 1,000 times stronger. Specifically, some researchers claim that Noopept’s effective dose may be 1,000 times lower than that of piracetam. However, other authors suggest that the potency may be 200-50000 greater for Noopept on a dose-for-dose basis. 

Noopept’s mechanism is not fully established. Several lines of evidence suggest involvement of glutamatergic signaling and NMDA-related processes based on EEG and pharmacologic modulation studies in rats, with effects resembling piracetam at far lower doses in these models. 

Most notably, a controlled human comparison study in people with mild cognitive disorders of vascular and traumatic origin reported that Noopept was associated with improvements in fatigue, anxiety, irritability, apathy, and affective lability over 56 days. 

Several preclinical trials report that Noopept is a cognitive-enhancing and memory-supporting agent. For example, in rats with experimentally induced amnesia, more animals appeared to benefit from Noopept than from piracetam at the studied oral doses, with stronger effects after repeated administration. 

EEG research in rats suggests functional similarities with piracetam at much lower doses, with NMDA-related modulation likely involved and effects that may last longer relative to piracetam in the tested paradigms. 

The aforementioned controlled human study also reported improvement in global cognitive measures in mild cognitive disorders of vascular and traumatic origin.

Notably, Noopept showed protective effects against beta-amyloid-induced cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s-related models and was linked to changes in amyloid-related immunoreactivity. [5],[8]

Some immunopharmacology studies also indicate that Noopept may influence macrophage activity and lymphocyte proliferation and thus interact with inflammatory pathways in animal models of brain injury [7]. 

The available clinical data suggests that Noopept is safe and well tolerated when taken at doses of 10 - 30 mg, once a day, for up to 56 days at a time. The only side effects reported by this experiment included

The authors noted that only sleep disturbance and increased blood pressure could be reasonably linked to Noopept in two patients. Among the patients who did not finish the 56-day course, two people in the Noopept group stopped early because their arterial blood pressure increased and they required hypotensive treatment.

Therefore, anxiety and irritability may occur during therapy with Noopept, but they do not appear to be caused directly by the compound when used as a medication. It’s also important to only source the nootropic from established and trusted sellers and to be wary of proper dosages, always consulting with clinicians before use. If you’d like to learn what Noopept can be combined with, read the article Safe Nootropic Stacking: The Science of Combining Cognitive Enhancers Effectively.