Method and compositions for treating a patient having a neurological disease or disorder, such as stroke, head trauma, spinal cord injury, spinal cord ischemia, ischemia- or hypoxia-induced nerve cell damage, epilepsy, anxiety, neuropsychiatric or cognitive deficits due to ischemia or hypoxia such as those that frequently occur as a consequence of cardiac surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass, or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease, Huntington's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).