I've had some experience here and will add a couple notes.
Memantine has been useful for slowing down Alzheimer's and temporarily improving responsiveness. However, Memantine has not shown any effectiveness in reversing Alzheimer's or fully stopping its progression (sadly). Memantine does seem to increase self-awareness clarity but, counterintuitively, seems to also disrupt memory recall. Word of caution, in one rat study, I had read that Memantine could have long term side-effects of hindering memory recall.
Amantadine has a fascinating structure, but it seems like it's not super useful by itself from studies. It seems more like a very promising 'base structure' to build future compounds upon (like Memantine and bromantane).
Anyways, this family is rather interesting for a number of its properties and are still not very well known or understood. Please do share any more insights.
- There's another paper which may shed some light on the herpes-Alzheimer's connection, and it notes that treatment with tromantadine (among others) is starkly beneficial: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5935641/
- If the connection is established, it could be that a tromantadine-like molecule with activity against herpes simplex -- plus mild activity at the NMDA receptor reducing excitotoxicity and protecting neurons -- could potentially be a good prophylactic against Alzheimer's.
- It would be interesting to test amide-linked amantadine-phenylalanine and memantine-phenylalanine conjugates. Such things would probably penetrate the BBB very well, as they could take advantage of amino acid transporters. (The LAT1 transporter in particular.) And they resemble tromantadine -- where it is said that the amide itself is a necessary moiety in countering HSV. Structure: https://i.ibb.co/7tS4MGGL/Amantadine-Phe.png
Thanks, man. I'm more of a general-purpose chemist. I've done medicinal chemistry for drug development, but also inorganic compound development, metallurgy, all kinds of other stuff. It's a broad and fun field.
Memantine has been useful for slowing down Alzheimer's and temporarily improving responsiveness. However, Memantine has not shown any effectiveness in reversing Alzheimer's or fully stopping its progression (sadly). Memantine does seem to increase self-awareness clarity but, counterintuitively, seems to also disrupt memory recall. Word of caution, in one rat study, I had read that Memantine could have long term side-effects of hindering memory recall.
Amantadine has a fascinating structure, but it seems like it's not super useful by itself from studies. It seems more like a very promising 'base structure' to build future compounds upon (like Memantine and bromantane).
Anyways, this family is rather interesting for a number of its properties and are still not very well known or understood. Please do share any more insights.