Excessive stimulation of glutamate receptors results in excitotoxicity and has a role in a variety of neurodegenerative disorders, including Huntington's disease. By blocking pathological extrasynaptic activity but preserving normal synaptic function, the N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor antagonist memantine—at the proper dosage—emerges as a potential treatment for such neurological disorders (pages 1407–1413).
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Kim Caesar
References
Okamoto, S. et al. Nat. Med. 15, 1407–1413 (2009).
Shao, J. & Diamond, M.I. Hum. Mol. Genet. 16 Spec. No. 2, R115–R123 (2007).
Arrasate, M. et al. Nature 431, 805–810 (2004).
Lipton, S.A. Nat. Rev. Drug Disc. 5, 160–170 (2006).
Chen, H.-S.V. et al. J. Neurosci. 12, 4427–4436 (1992).
Orgogozo, J.M. et al. Stroke 33, 1834–1839 (2002).
Reisberg, B. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 348, 1333–1341 (2003).
Spiess, C. et al. Trends Cell Biol. 14, 598–604 (2004).
Pickett, J. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 7, 832–833 (2006).
Cui, L. et al. Cell 127, 59–69 (2006).
Weydt, P. et al. Cell Metab. 4, 349–362 (2006).
Beister, A. et al. J. Neural Transm. Suppl. 68, 117–122 (2004).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
La Spada, A. Memantine strikes the perfect balance. Nat Med 15, 1355–1356 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1209-1355
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1209-1355
