Ritalin May Trigger Long-Term Brain Cell Changes

Ritalin May Trigger Long-Term Brain Cell Changes

Kids all over the country take Ritalin to relieve symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The drugs use has dramatically increased since first appearing on the market in 1980. Now how many college students get restless and bored when certain teachers drone on and on in their lectures. Lets face it some people can not present the work in an interesting enough way to keep our attention. So are we all stricken with ADD?

Doctors have always considered the drug to be short acting, meaning that once it worked its way through the child’s system, it was gone. But according to a study presented just last month at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Ritalin may trigger brain changes that remain after the child quits taking the drug.

Researchers have long known that Ritalin acts in the brain much like cocaine and amphetamines. However they have not thought there were any lasting affects after the drug is out of a child or adult’s system. In the study presented by a researcher in psychology at the University of Buffalo, they gave one group of young rats sweetened milk containing a relatively high dose of Ritalin. The dose and the time of day of the rats’ treatment was comparable to a child’s dosing schedule. The other group was given plain sweetened milk. After 90 minutes, researchers analyzed the rats’ brains.

They found that certain brain cell genes called ‘immediate early genes’ were switched on, and that action caused changes in some aspects of nerve cell function. Amphetamines and cocaine both