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. 2016 Aug;31(5):405-12.
doi: 10.1177/1533317515622283. Epub 2016 Jan 14.

Toxicological Differences Between NMDA Receptor Antagonists and Cholinesterase Inhibitors

Xiaodong Shi  1 , Xiaotian Lin  1 , Rui Hu  1 , Nan Sun  1 , Jingru Hao  1 , Can Gao  2
Affiliations

Toxicological Differences Between NMDA Receptor Antagonists and Cholinesterase Inhibitors

Xiaodong Shi et al. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2016 Aug.

Abstract

Cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs), represented by donepezil, rivastigmine, and galantamine, used to be the only approved class of drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. After the approval of memantine by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), N-methyl-d-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor antagonists have been recognized by authorities and broadly used in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Along with complementary mechanisms of action, NMDA antagonists and ChEIs differ not only in therapeutic effects but also in adverse reactions, which is an important consideration in clinical drug use. And the number of patients using NMDA antagonists and ChEIs concomitantly has increased, making the matter more complicated. Here we used the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System for statistical analysis , in order to compare the adverse events of memantine and ChEIs. In general, the clinical evidence confirmed the safety advantages of memantine over ChEIs, reiterating the precautions of clinical drug use and the future direction of antidementia drug development.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS); NMDA receptor antagonists; cholinesterase inhibitors.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The adverse reactions referred to in Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug labels.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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