Researchers said Monday they have unraveled new data on the area of the brain that ADHD drugs target to relieve symptoms.
The drugs, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, work in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of the brain, which is responsible for attention, decision-making, and personality expression.
According to the researchers, ADHD drugs relieve symptoms by boosting levels of the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine, which affect memory formation, arousal, and attentiveness.
The drugs have come under scrutiny because they are routinely given to young children, have the potential to create addiction, but no one could explain which part of the brain they affected.
Craig Berridge, lead author of the study which appeared in the June issue of Biological Psychiatry, said it was impossible to come up with better drugs until the work site of the existing drugs was discovered.
To find out, the team fed rats doses of ADHD drugs, including Ritalin, Adderall, and Dexedrine, that were functionally equivalent to those used to treat human beings.
Brain probes were used to monitor the resulting neurotransmitter activity in three areas of the brain: the PFC, the accumbens that processes rewards, and the medial septum, which is associated with arousal and movement.
Under the influence of ADHD drugs, dopamine and norepinephrine levels increased in the prefrontal cortex but remained much the same in the two other brain structures.
Berridge said his team's next step is looking at how ADHD meds act on neural tissue to enhance cognitive ability.
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