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Study determines how Ritalin treats ADHD
University of Wisconsin-Madison psychology researchers David Devilbiss and Craig Berridge determined Ritalin affects neurons in the brain's prefrontal cortex, or PFC -- a region involved in attention, decision-making and impulse control -- while having few effects outside that area. Although Ritalin has been used for more than 50 years to treat the condition marked by hyperactivity, impulsivity and the inability to focus or shift concentration, Berridge said little has been known about how the drug achieves its therapeutic effects.
He and Devilbiss studied PFC neurons in rats given Ritalin.
They found the PFC neurons' sensitivity to signals coming from the brain's hippocampus increased dramatically when the rats were given therapeutic doses of Ritalin. Ritalin strengthened dominant and important signals within the PFC, while lessening weaker signals that might act as distractors, said Berridge.
"These results show a new level of action for cognition-enhancing doses of Ritalin that couldn't have been predicted from single neuron analyses," he said.
The study appears in the online edition of Biological Psychiatry.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
This news arrived on: 06/26/2008
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Posted Comments:
07-01-2008 09:32
John U.K. wrote:
Ritalin treats ADHD
Is this the first step towards 'super-student' drugs that improve the ability to focus and concentrate? At what point will man and his brain be reduced to being viewed as nothing more than a collection of chemical compounds that can be manipulated as desired to produce enhanced performance in any field? Super-blood, enhanced with hemoglobin that absorbs 3X the oxygen of normal blood for enhanced athletic performance! Super-lungs, that work better at altitude for those times when thin air mustn't impede output! And so on. As science discovers more, man can, from a certain perspective, become less. The mystery is lost. A Lance Armstrong, whose VO2 Max capacity was sensational, and which made him a superstar, will no longer be special when anyone can be tweaked so that their own VO2 Max is as high (or higher).
The biggest test of all will come when *choice* and *taste* can be tweaked.
The biggest test of all will come when *choice* and *taste* can be tweaked.
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