Efficacy of Memantine in Schizophrenic Patients: A Systematic Review

Several evidences support the hypothesis that glutamatergic dysfunction may be implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and in the last few years great interest has been focused on the role of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR). Glutamate is the main excitatory neurotransmitter in human CNS and it plays a prominent role in synaptic plasticity, learning, and memory and other cognitive functions. Increasing interest in memantine add-on therapy in schizophrenic patients with negative and cognitive symptoms may suggest that memantine could be a new promising treatment in schizophrenia. The aim of this update was to evaluate clinical data about the memantine effectiveness in schizophrenic patients. Our systematic review of the literature highlights that memantine therapy in schizophrenic patients seems to improve mainly negative symptoms while positive symptoms and cognitive symptoms did not improve significantly.