Rolipram is a PDE4-inhibitor

Phosphodiesterase inhibitor

A phosphodiesterase inhibitor is a drug that blocks one or more of the five subtypes of the enzyme phosphodiesterase , therefore preventing the inactivation of the intracellular second messengers cyclic adenosine monophosphate and cyclic guanosine monophosphate by the respective PDE...

. Like most PDE4-inhibitors, it is an anti-inflammatory drug. Rolipram is being studied as a possible alternative to current antidepressants. Recent studies show that rolipram may have antipsychotic

Antipsychotic

An antipsychotic is a tranquilizing psychiatric medication primarily used to manage psychosis , particularly in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. A first generation of antipsychotics, known as typical antipsychotics, was discovered in the 1950s...

 effects. Other beneficial effects of rolipram are:

• Improved long term memory
• Increased wakefulness
• Increased neuroprotection
  Neuroprotection
  Neuroprotection within the nervous system protects neurons from apoptosis or degeneration, for example following a brain injury or as a result of chronic neurodegenerative diseases....
  
  

Rolipram shows promise in ameliorating Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...

, Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...

and also in the regeneration of severed spinal cord axonal bodies.