Archival ReportPsychostimulants Act Within the Prefrontal Cortex to Improve Cognitive Function
Section snippets
Animals
Male Sprague-Dawley rats (260–280 grams; Charles River, Wilmington, Massachusetts) were pair-housed in clear polycarbonate cages on a 13/11-hour light/dark cycle (lights on 0600 hours). Animals were fed ad libitum for the first 7 days and subsequently restricted to 15 to 17 grams of food per day following training/testing. Training/testing was conducted between 0900 and 1600 hours (typically 6 days/week). Rats were weighed twice weekly to confirm animals did not lose weight and were assigned a
Cognitive Effects of Intra-PFC MPH Infusion
Given the likely involvement of rat dAcg in working memory performance (21), we avoided placement of guide cannulae directly into this dorsal-most region of the rat mPFC and utilized small gauge (33-gauge) infusion needles. As shown in Figure 1, this approach resulted in minimal damage to the mPFC. Vehicle infusions had minimal, nonsignificant effects on working memory performance (.75% ± 2.37% change from baseline, n = 13; Figure 1). In contrast, direct infusion of MPH (500 nL) into the dmPFC
Discussion
Despite the widespread use of psychostimulants as cognitive enhancers, surprisingly little is known about the neural circuitry involved in their cognitive/therapeutic actions. Although systemic administration of low-dose psychostimulants improves frontostriatal function, whether this reflects direct or indirect actions in the PFC or striatum is unclear. The current studies provide unambiguous evidence that psychostimulant action within the PFC/frontal cortex is sufficient to promote higher
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Lister hooded rats as a novel animal model of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
2020, Neurochemistry InternationalCitation Excerpt :LHRs showed changes in the expression levels of genes linked to ADHD in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Functional abnormalities in the PFC are implicated in ADHD pathology (Cheng et al., 2017; Spencer et al., 2012; Totah et al., 2013). Furthermore, non-stimulant treatments ameliorated their ADHD-like behavior.
Methylphenidate administration reverts attentional inflexibility in adolescent rats submitted to a model of neonatal hypoxia-ischemia: Predictive validity for ADHD study
2019, Experimental NeurologyCitation Excerpt :Higher pTH enzyme levels indicate higher TH activity and probably higher DA levels in the PFC, that we could presume to be associated with the improved attentional flexibility observed in this group. MPH is well recognized to increase DA levels in the PFC (Berridge et al., 2006; Devilbiss and Berridge, 2008; Schmeichel et al., 2013; Spencer et al., 2012) and we assume that an increase in the DA signaling in the PFC of HIMPH animals was responsible for their attentional improvements. Although MPH administration was able to reverse attentional impairments caused by the neonatal HI, the drug did not impact on protein levels of DA receptors and DAT.
Dopamine and the motivation of cognitive control<sup>☆</sup>
2019, Handbook of Clinical NeurologyExtinction memory is facilitated by methylphenidate and regulated by dopamine and noradrenaline receptors
2017, Behavioural Brain Research