Ritalin is a drug made famous because it is used in syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to improve the ability to focus on a task for children with this disorder. Now a new research carried out on rats shows for the first time that it acts by increasing the activity of dopamine neurotrasmittitore.

Research has shown that in fact a first type of dopamine receptor enables the ability to improve potato attention, while the other improves the ability to learn.

“We observed that a receptor known as dopamine D2 receptor, controls the ability of the person to stay focused on a task, the well-known therapeutic effects of Ritalin,” said Patricia Janak, researcher dell’Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center ‘University of California at San Francisco, and senior author of the report in the journal Nature Neuroscience. “But we also discovered that another receptor for dopamine, the D1, is the basis of the efficiency of learning.”

The research assessed the ability of rats to learn how to get sugar water in response to a signal, a flash of light or sound: the group of animals that had been given Ritalin showed a marked increase in performance.

It was then found that blocking the receptors D1, Ritalin was no longer able to improve learning. Similarly, blocking D2 receptors, the drug failed to improve concentration. Experimentation has enabled to determine the distinct role of each dopamine receptor in the improvement of performance Cognitive after administration of Ritalin.

In addition, it was shown that animals improved their performance following administration of Ritalin had more synaptic plasticity in the amygdala, a factor considered crucial for the efficiency of neural transmission.

Source:lescienze.espresso.repubblica.it