Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Montreal, Canada
Review Article
Memantine for the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease: Novel Mechanisms and Future Opportunities
Author(s): Roger F Butterworth*
Results of a systematic review with meta-analysis of 30 RCTs confirm the efficacy and safety of memantine when used as monotherapy or in combination with cholinesterase inhibitors for the treatment of AD where both cognitive function and behavioural disturbance scores were significantly improved. FDA approval was subsequently granted for the treatment of moderate-to-severe AD. Mechanisms responsible for these beneficial effects include memantine’s property as a non-competitive, low affinity, open-channel blocker of the NMDA receptor and its associated ion channel. An alternative explanation has emerged based upon the discovery that astroglia and microglia play a key role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases together with reports of memantine’s ability to control microglial activation and its associated anti-inflammatory response occurring independent of NMDA r.. View More»
DOI:
10.37532/22.4.2.17-20
