reflexes in both hands. Parkinsonism symptoms, such as rigidity, were mild, but she could not stand or walk. Brain computed tomography showed no apparent ischemic changes, and electroencephalography showed no obvious paroxysmal discharges or triphasic waves. Her plasma amantadine hydrochloride level was high (4,900 ng/ml), and she was eventually diagnosed with amantadine toxicity. After cessati...

BACKGROUND The clinical management of H5N1 influenza virus infection in humans remains unclear. Combination chemotherapy with drugs that target different viral proteins might be more effective than monotherapy. METHODS BALB/c mice were treated by oral gavage for 5 days with amantadine (1.5, 15 or 30 mg/kg/day) and oseltamivir (1 or 10 mg/kg/day) separately or in combination. Mice were challen...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most aggressive malignancies worldwide, and its incidence associated with viral infection has increased in recent years. Amantadine is a tricyclic symmetric amine that can effectively protect against the hepatitis C virus. However, its antitumor properties remain unclear. In the present study, the effects of amantadine on tumor cell viability, cell c...

AIM The aim of this study was to investigate whether amantadine reduces deterioration of quality of life in patients with chronic hepatitis C during and after treatment with interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) and ribavirin. PATIENTS AND METHODS In this randomized, prospective, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial, previously untreated patients with chronic hepatitis C were treated with IFN-alpha p...

To investigate the possible efficacy of amantadine in the control of pathological gambling (PG) associated with Parkinson disease (PD), 17 PD patients with PG were randomly selected for a double-blind crossover study with amantadine 200mg/day versus placebo and an open follow-up. Assessments included PG-specific scales (Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale for PG, Gambling-Symptom Assessment S...

Recent controlled trials on the efficacy of an amantadine/interferon combination in treatment-naive patients with chronic hepatitis C yielded contradictory results. We therefore conducted a large, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial in naive patients with chronic hepatitis C: 246 patients were randomized to receive interferon alfa-2a (6 MIU sc thrice weekly for 20 weeks, then 3 ...

BACKGROUND Freezing of gait (FOG) is one of the most disabling symptoms in Parkinsonism. Open-label studies have suggested that intravenous (IV) amantadine is effective against FOG resistant to dopaminergic therapy in Parkinson's disease (PD). We evaluated the efficacy of IV amantadine on FOG resistant to dopaminergic therapy. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS This was a randomized, double-blind...

BACKGROUND AND AIM In this study, we compared the efficacy of triple therapy (interferon alfa, ribavirin, and amantadine) with standard therapy (interferon alfa and ribavirin) in treatment naïve patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV). METHODS In this prospective, randomised, double blind, placebo controlled, multicentre study, 85 patients (amantadine group) received a three drug regime...

Neuropathic pain is often severe, persistent, and responds poorly to analgesic medications. Recent evidence suggests that N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists may be effective in the treatment of neuropathic pain. The present trial was designed to test the efficacy of acute administration of the NMDA receptor antagonist amantadine in relieving surgical neuropathic pain in patients w...

Amantadine acetylation was demonstrated to occur both in vivo and in vitro using transgenic male mice overexpressing spermidine/spermine N(1)-acetyltransferase (SSAT). We previously reported that neither NAT1 nor NAT2 was responsible for catalyzing acetylation of the primary amine group of amantadine. We hypothesized that the inducible polyamine-catabolizing enzyme, SSAT, was an alternate pathw...