ADHD Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about ADHD, including details on attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, drugs, treatment, symptoms.

Differential behavioral and neurochemical effects of cocaine after early exposure to methylphenidate in an animal model of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Augustyniak PN, Kourrich S, Rezazadeh SM, Stewart J, Arvanitogiannis A

Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology, Department of Psychology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke Street West, SP244, Montréal, Que., Canada H4B 1R6.

We used a putative animal model of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the SHR rat, to examine the effects of repeated exposure to methylphenidate (MPH; Ritalin) during the pubertal period on cocaine-induced conditioned place preference and dopamine (DA) levels in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in adulthood. Our results indicate that early exposure to methylphenidate diminishes sensitivity to the incentive properties of cocaine in adulthood, but it does so without altering the response of the mesolimbic dopamine system.

Published 23 January 2006 in Behav Brain Res, 167(2): 379-82.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 ADHD Research Today. All Rights Reserved.