Following surgery, patients often experience a cognitive impairment known as postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD). POCD is associated with residual levels of anesthetic drugs, critical illnesses, and major, secondary, or complication-occurring surgery. An increase in glutamate after surgery and the inhibition of NMDA and AMPA receptors are involved in the disruption of the inflammatory cascade in the central nervous system. Amantadine is an NMDA receptor antagonist that can prevent neurotoxicity associated with glutamate. A study in Behavioural Brain Research evaluated the potential neuroprotective effect of amantadine in mice when combined with administration of propofol. When performing the tail pinch test, the animals in the amantadine-only group showed a slight delay in pain response, suggesting an analgesic effect. When combined with propofol, cognitive performance improved in the Morris water maze task when compared to the propofol-only group. Co-administration also improved the recovery time from propofol exposure. These results show that co-administration with amantadine opens potential avenues for treating POCD in the future.

Original reference: Alaçam, B. et al. Behav. Brain Res. 477, 115290 (2024)

手术后，患者经常会出现称为术后认知功能障碍 （POCD） 的认知障碍。POCD 与麻醉药物的残留水平、危重疾病以及重大、继发性或并发症发生的手术有关。手术后谷氨酸的增加以及 NMDA 和 AMPA 受体的抑制与中枢神经系统炎症级联反应的破坏有关。金刚烷胺是一种 NMDA 受体拮抗剂，可预防与谷氨酸相关的神经毒性。Behavioural Brain Research 上的一项研究评估了金刚烷胺与异丙酚联合给药时对小鼠的潜在神经保护作用。在进行尾部捏试验时，仅金刚烷胺组中的动物表现出疼痛反应的轻微延迟，表明具有镇痛作用。与仅使用异丙酚组相比，当与异丙酚联合使用时，Morris 水迷宫任务中的认知表现有所改善。联合给药还缩短了异丙酚暴露的恢复时间。这些结果表明，与金刚烷胺共同给药为未来治疗 POCD 开辟了潜在的途径。

原始参考资料：Alaçam， B. et al. 行为。大脑研究。477， 115290 （2024）