Latest N-methyl-D-aspartic acid Stories

For several years, the pharmaceutical industry has tried to develop drugs that target a specific neurotransmitter receptor in the brain, the NMDA receptor. This receptor is present on almost every neuron in the human brain and is involved in learning and memory. NMDA receptors also have been implicated in several neurological and psychiatric conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and depression. But drug companies have had little success developing...

The gene variants weaken the same receptors that some hallucinogenic drugs block New genetic factors predisposing to schizophrenia have been uncovered in five families with several affected relatives. The psychiatric disorder can disrupt thinking, feeling, and acting, and blur the border between reality and imagination. Dr. Debby W. Tsuang, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and Dr. Marshall S. Horwitz, professor of pathology, both at the University of Washington in...

Since the 1960s, psychiatrists have been hunting for substances made by the body that might accumulate in abnormally high levels to produce the symptoms associated with schizophrenia. In particular, there was a search for chemicals that might be related to the hallucinogens phencyclidine (PCP) or lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), which could explain the emergence of psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia. This "auto-intoxication" hypothesis led investigators on a wild goose chase where...

Structure of GluN2D subunit when docked with certain neurotransmitters helps explain the receptor's slow deactivationStructural biologists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in collaboration with colleagues at Emory University have determined the molecular structure of a key portion, or subunit, of a receptor type commonly expressed in brain cells. The receptor is one of several NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptor variants, and the subunit in question is that which specifically binds...

MIAMI and EVANSTON, Ill., Dec. 7, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Naurex Inc., a clinical-stage company developing innovative treatments to address unmet needs in psychiatry and neurology, reported that data being presented today at the 49th Annual Meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) further confirm that its lead antidepressant candidate GLYX-13 appears free of the behavioral impairment and abuse potential that have limited the clinical utility of other NMDA receptor...

SAN DIEGO and EVANSTON, Ill., Nov. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Naurex Inc., a company developing innovative treatments to address unmet needs in psychiatry and neurology, today reported that data presented at Neuroscience 2010 show that GLYX-13, its clinical-stage candidate for the treatment of depression, shares key mechanistic features associated with the antidepressant efficacy of the NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine.* Numerous studies have shown that ketamine has a markedly faster onset...

A new class of compounds identified by researchers at Emory University School of Medicine could be developed into drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia. The compounds enhance signaling by molecules in the brain called NMDA receptors, which scientists believe are functioning at low levels in people with schizophrenia.Led by Stephen Traynelis, PhD, professor of pharmacology, a team of Emory researchers sifted through thousands of chemicals and found one, called CIQ, which could selectively...

New neuroscience research by life scientists from UCLA and Australia may potentially help people who have lost their ability to remember due to brain injury or disease. By examining how we learn and store memories, these scientists have shown that the way the brain first captures and encodes a situation or event is quite different from how it processes subsequent similar events. The study is published in the Sept. 29 edition of the online journal PLoS ONE, a publication of the Public...

EVANSTON, Ill., Aug. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Naurex Inc., a clinical stage company developing innovative treatments for depression and other CNS disorders, today reported that its clinical stage candidate for the treatment of depression, GLYX-13, and its second-generation NRX-1050 series have been selected for inclusion on Windhover's list of the "Top 10 Most Interesting Neuroscience Projects to Watch." They were chosen by a committee that included Windhover Information, the publishers of IN...

Sanford-Burnham scientists uncover new clues to the molecular action of memantine, a drug used to treat Alzheimer's disease, that show why side effects are rareAlzheimer's disease destroys brain cells and their connections (called synapses), causing memory loss and other cognitive problems that disrupt work, hobbies and daily life. Symptoms can be alleviated, in part, by the drug memantine (marketed in the United States as Namenda), which is currently FDA-approved to treat moderate-to-severe...