title: Recent insights into the mode of action of memantine and ketamine.
abstract: The clinical benefits of the glutamate receptor antagonists memantine and ketamine have helped sustain optimism that glutamate receptors represent viable targets for development of therapeutic drugs. Both memantine and ketamine antagonize N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs), a glutamate receptor subfamily, by blocking the receptor-associated ion channel. Although many of the basic characteristics of NMDAR inhibition by memantine and ketamine appear similar, their effects on humans and to a lesser extent on rodents are strongly divergent. Some recent research suggests that preferential inhibition by memantine and ketamine of distinct NMDAR subpopulations may contribute to the drugs' differential clinical effects. Here we review studies that shed light on possible explanations for differences between the effects of memantine and ketamine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience and Center for Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA. Electronic address: jjohnson@pitt.edu.
authors.forename: Jon W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience and Center for Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
authors.forename: Nathan G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Glasgow
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience and Center for Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
authors.forename: Nadezhda V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Povysheva
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015195:Drug Design; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D007649:Ketamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008559:Memantine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors
chemical_list: D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; D007649:Ketamine; D008559:Memantine