The aim of the study was to present the antidepressive and mood-stabilizing properties of memantine, i.e. a drug currently registered for treatment of severe forms of dementia of Alzheimer’s type. Apart from introducing the primary information on this substance, we have focussed in this study on presentation of the hitherto published results of its use in affective disorders. Available literature on the clinical applications of memantine is scarce, presenting single investigations of small groups of patients with recurrent depressive disorders, in mania in the course of affective bipolar disease as well as several case study descriptions, including the depressive episode in the course of affective bipolar disease. Preliminary results are quite optimistic, however they do not authorize to unambiguous conclusions at the present stage. Emphasized is the high safety of the use of memantine and, obviously, the need to carry out further, methodologically well-planned studies which would comprise larger groups of patients and would evaluate the effects of memantine in patients with bipolar depression or mixed episode of affective bipolar disease. Owing to fast clinical action of antagonists of glutamatergic NMDA receptor, memantine would be an interesting, safe and convenient therapeutic alternative; in view of its use in everyday clinical work it would be much more advantageous, safer and easier to use than ketamine – another antagonist of NMDA. What seems particularly important, memantine gives a potential chance to improve the cognitive functioning, which is used in therapy of dementia, whereas in affective disorders actually it has not been examined so far.

memantine, affective disorders, depression, mania, glutamatergic system, NMDA receptor