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The N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist memantine retards progression of Huntington’s disease

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Focus on Extrapyramidal Dysfunction

Part of the book series: Journal of Neural Transmission. Supplementa ((NEURAL SUPPL,volume 68))

Summary

According to the excitotoxicity hypothesis, neurotoxicity due to glutamate is regarded as potential factor in the progredient neurodegeneration of Huntington’s disease (HD). Memantine, as a glutamate receptor antagonist, should counteract this mechanism. Its effectiveness (up to 30 mg/day) with regard to retardation of progression was thus examined in 27 HD patients in a two year, open and multicentre trial. The results suggest that memantine treatment of HD may be useful in terms of retardation of the progression of the disorder.

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© 2004 Springer-Verlag Wien

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Beister, A., Kraus, P., Kuhn, W., Dose, M., Weindl, A., Gerlach, M. (2004). The N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist memantine retards progression of Huntington’s disease. In: Müller, T., Riederer, P. (eds) Focus on Extrapyramidal Dysfunction. Journal of Neural Transmission. Supplementa, vol 68. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-0579-5_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-0579-5_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Vienna

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-211-21114-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-7091-0579-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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