"We showed definitively for the first time that memantine, the drug our group developed for Alzheimer's disease, works in a unique way," Dr. Lipton said. "It inhibits a protein that binds glutamate called the NMDA receptor, but predominantly blocks NMDA receptors that signal molecularly to cause neuronal injury and death. It spares the synaptic receptors that mediate normal communication between nerve cells in the brain."

This finding helps explain why the drug is so well tolerated by Alzheimer's patients and might provide hints for the development of future therapies targeting the NMDA receptor and similar cellular machinery in other diseases.

As many as 5.3 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's, currently the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States.

Source: Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute