{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,13]],"date-time":"2026-07-13T16:24:37Z","timestamp":1783959877193,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,22]],"date-time":"2021-07-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1626912000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002261","name":"Russian Foundation for Basic Research","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["19-315-90044 Aspirants"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["19-315-90044 Aspirants"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002261","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Russian Foundation for Basic Research, Krasnoyarsk Territory and Krasnoyarsk Regional Fund of Science","award":["20-415-242905"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["20-415-242905"]}]},{"name":"Russian Foundation of Basic Research and  National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["21-515-53007"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["21-515-53007"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Spinocerebellar ataxias are a family of fatal inherited diseases affecting the brain. Although specific mutated proteins are different, they may have a common pathogenetic mechanism, such as insufficient glutamate clearance. This function fails in reactive glia, leading to excitotoxicity and overactivation of NMDA receptors. Therefore, NMDA receptor blockers could be considered for the management of excitotoxicity. One such drug, memantine, currently used for the treatment of Alzheimer\u2019s disease, could potentially be used for the treatment of other forms of neurodegeneration, for example, spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA). We previously demonstrated close parallels between optogenetically induced cerebellar degeneration and SCA1. Here we induced reactive transformation of cerebellar Bergmann glia (BG) using this novel optogenetic approach and tested whether memantine could counteract changes in BG and Purkinje cell (PC) morphology and expression of the main glial glutamate transporter\u2014excitatory amino acid transporter 1 (EAAT1). Reactive BG induced by chronic optogenetic stimulation presented increased GFAP immunoreactivity, increased thickness and decreased length of its processes. Oral memantine (~90 mg\/kg\/day for 4 days) prevented thickening of the processes (1.57 to 1.81 vs. 1.62 \u03bcm) and strongly antagonized light-induced reduction in their average length (186.0 to 150.8 vs. 171.9 \u03bcm). Memantine also prevented the loss of the key glial glutamate transporter EAAT1 on BG. Finally, memantine reduced the loss of PC (4.2 \u00b1 0.2 to 3.2 \u00b1 0.2 vs. 4.1 \u00b1 0.3 cells per 100 \u03bcm of the PC layer). These results identify memantine as potential neuroprotective therapeutics for cerebellar ataxias.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms22157822","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,22]],"date-time":"2021-07-22T22:35:31Z","timestamp":1626993331000},"page":"7822","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Protective Effect of Memantine on Bergmann Glia and Purkinje Cells Morphology in Optogenetic Model of Neurodegeneration in Mice"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"given":"Anton N.","family":"Shuvaev","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Molecular Medicine and Pathobiochemistry, Voyno-Yasenetsky Krasnoyarsk State Medical University, 660022 Krasnoyarsk, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Olga S.","family":"Belozor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Molecular Medicine and Pathobiochemistry, Voyno-Yasenetsky Krasnoyarsk State Medical University, 660022 Krasnoyarsk, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5427-1688","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Oleg I.","family":"Mozhei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Living Systems, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, 236041 Kaliningrad, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elena D.","family":"Khilazheva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Molecular Medicine and Pathobiochemistry, Voyno-Yasenetsky Krasnoyarsk State Medical University, 660022 Krasnoyarsk, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3887-1413","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrey N.","family":"Shuvaev","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Siberian Federal University, 660041 Krasnoyarsk, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yana V.","family":"Fritsler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Siberian Federal University, 660041 Krasnoyarsk, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"S.","family":"Kasparov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"52","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jchemneu.2011.10.005","article-title":"A new splice variant of the glutamate-aspartate transporter: Cloning and immunolocalization of GLAST1c in rat, pig and human brains","volume":"43","author":"Lee","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. 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