According to the HealthDay News, the Alzheimer’s drug memantine may help reduce damage to cells in premature babies, sparing them brain injury.
“Memantine blocks a type of glutamate receptor in the brain called the NMDA receptor. In premature babies, hypoxic-ischemia leads to over-activation of NMDA receptors, resulting in a pattern of white-matter brain injury called periventricular leukomalacia (PVL).”
What this means is that the use of this drug may be helpful if used as a preventative therapy for infants. It’s promising to see useful applications coming out of some seemingly unrelated drugs. The potential for benefits to be found for TBI in accident victims increases every time these cross-applications are studied.
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