Memantine is highly potent in protecting cortical cultures against excitotoxic cell death evoked by glutamate and N-methyl-D-aspartate.

Department of Anatomy, Georg-August-University, Göttingen, F.R.G.

The capacity of memantine to protect cultured cerebrocortical cells against N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)- and glutamate-induced cell death was examined. Excitotoxic cell death was evaluated by phase contrast microscopy and quantified by estimating the release of lactic dehydrogenase from damaged cells. Memantine showed a strong, long-lasting and concentration-dependent protective effect against the excitotoxic damage induced by glutamate and NMDA, with almost complete protection being attained at a memantine concentration of 0.1 mM. The present findings indicate that memantine has potential value as a drug against excitotoxic brain damage.

PMID: 1864308 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]