In the new study, researchers initially tested nerve cell cultures transfected with mutant Huntingtin protein and found that reducing excessive NMDA-type glutamate receptor activity with Memantine and other antagonists protected the nerve cells (glutamate receptors are the main trigger of excitatory electrical activity in the brain but in excess can cause nerve cell death, a process called excitotoxicity). They also found that normal synaptic activity was protective. Subsequently, they treated Huntington's disease model mice with both high and low doses of Memantine and found that the low doses were protective by blocking pathological extrasynaptic activity, while high-dose Memantine encouraged disease progression because it also blocked the protective synaptic NMDA receptor activity.

"For a long time it's been known that excitotoxicity is an early marker of Huntington's disease," said Dr. Hayden. "However, now we have dissected the mechanism by which this happens, particularly focusing on NMDA receptors outside the synapse. This creates novel therapeutic opportunities to modulate these receptors with potential protective effects on nerve cells."

A small human clinical trial of Memantine for Huntington's disease has also recently shown positive effects. Larger, international clinical trials are now being planned.

Dr. Lipton is the named inventor on worldwide patents for the use of Memantine (marketed in the USA under the name Namenda-) in neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's and Huntington's disease. He is credited with the groundbreaking discovery more than ten years ago of how Memantine works in the brain and for spearheading early human clinical trials with the drug.

Source: Burnham Institute