TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of memantine in the treatment of psychiatric disorders other than the dementias
T2 - A review of current preclinical and clinical evidence
AU - Sani, Gabriele
AU - Serra, Giulia
AU - Kotzalidis, Giorgio D.
AU - Romano, Silvia
AU - Tamorri, Stefano M.
AU - Manfredi, Giovanni
AU - Caloro, Matteo
AU - Telesforo, C. Ludovica
AU - Caltagirone, Saverio S.
AU - Panaccione, Isabella
AU - Simonetti, Alessio
AU - Demontis, Francesca
AU - Serra, Gino
AU - Girardi, Paolo
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Memantine, a non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist approved for Alzheimers disease with a good safety profile, is increasingly being studied in a variety of non-dementia psychiatric disorders. We aimed to critically review relevant literature on the use of the drug in such disorders. We performed a PubMed search of the effects of memantine in animal models of psychiatric disorders and its effects in human studies of specific psychiatric disorders. The bulk of the data relates to the effects of memantine in major depressive disorder and schizophrenia, although more recent studies have provided data on the use of the drug in bipolar disorder as an add-on. Despite interesting preclinical data, results in major depression are not encouraging. Animal studies investigating the possible usefulness of memantine in schizophrenia are controversial; however, interesting findings were obtained in open studies of schizophrenia, but negative placebo-controlled, double-blind studies cast doubt on their validity. The effects of memantine in anxiety disorders have been poorly investigated, but data indicate that the use of the drug in obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder holds promise, while findings relating to generalized anxiety disorder are rather disappointing. Results in eating disorders, catatonia, impulse control disorders (pathological gambling), substance and alcohol abusedependence, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are inconclusive. In most psychiatric non-Alzheimers disease conditions, the clinical data fail to support the usefulness of memantine as monotherapy or add-on treatment However, recent preclinical and clinical findings suggest that add-on memantine may show antimanic and mood-stabilizing effects in treatment-resistant bipolar disorder.
AB - Memantine, a non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist approved for Alzheimers disease with a good safety profile, is increasingly being studied in a variety of non-dementia psychiatric disorders. We aimed to critically review relevant literature on the use of the drug in such disorders. We performed a PubMed search of the effects of memantine in animal models of psychiatric disorders and its effects in human studies of specific psychiatric disorders. The bulk of the data relates to the effects of memantine in major depressive disorder and schizophrenia, although more recent studies have provided data on the use of the drug in bipolar disorder as an add-on. Despite interesting preclinical data, results in major depression are not encouraging. Animal studies investigating the possible usefulness of memantine in schizophrenia are controversial; however, interesting findings were obtained in open studies of schizophrenia, but negative placebo-controlled, double-blind studies cast doubt on their validity. The effects of memantine in anxiety disorders have been poorly investigated, but data indicate that the use of the drug in obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder holds promise, while findings relating to generalized anxiety disorder are rather disappointing. Results in eating disorders, catatonia, impulse control disorders (pathological gambling), substance and alcohol abusedependence, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are inconclusive. In most psychiatric non-Alzheimers disease conditions, the clinical data fail to support the usefulness of memantine as monotherapy or add-on treatment However, recent preclinical and clinical findings suggest that add-on memantine may show antimanic and mood-stabilizing effects in treatment-resistant bipolar disorder.
KW - Anxiety-disorders
KW - Attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder
KW - Bipolar-disorders
KW - Catatonia
KW - Dementia
KW - Eating-disorders
KW - Gambling
KW - Impulse-control-disorders
KW - Major-depressive-disorder
KW - Memantine
KW - NMDA-receptor-antagonists
KW - Schizophrenia
KW - Substance-related-disorders.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84863685351&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84863685351&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2165/11634390-000000000-00000
DO - 10.2165/11634390-000000000-00000
M3 - Article
C2 - 22784018
AN - SCOPUS:84863685351
VL - 26
SP - 663
EP - 690
JO - CNS Drugs
JF - CNS Drugs
SN - 1172-7047
IS - 8
ER -