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Ritalin: Brain
built 277 days ago
Like cocaine, Ritalin is a powerful stimulant that increases alertness and productivity. Ritalin and cocaine ... look and act the same. Both have a similar chemical structure, and both increase dopamine levels in the brain. They do this by blocking a dopamine transporter protein responsible for the reuptake of dopamine at the synapse.
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A team of scientists from New York's Weill Cornell Medical College recently conducted a study to determine if Ritalin has any long-term effects on the brain. They used rats, which were divided into two groups, one was injected with Ritalin doses for a month, and the other received no treatment.
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Ritalin will increase the brain's ability to inhibit itself. This allows the brain to focus on the right thing at the right time, and to be less distracted, and less impulsive. Ritalin will increase the "signal to noise ratio" in the brain.
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Volkow added that Ritalin ... works to suppress "background" firing of neurons not associated with task performance, allowing the brain to transmit a clearer signal. "Random activation of other cells can distract you, and children with ADHD are easily distracted," she said. "Ritalin suppresses that background firing and accentuates the specific activation, basically increasing the signal-to-noise ratio and increasing a child's ability to focus."
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No one completely understands how Ritalin works. It has a stimulating effect on adults, but has a calming effect on hyperactive kids, and a "focusing" effect on ADHD kids. It affects the central nervous system (your brain and spinal cord), stimulating it mildly. NIDA
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Earlier animal and limited human studies had indicated that Ritalin interferes with the recycling of dopamine within the brain by blocking dopamine transporters. However, since these earlier studies involved injection of much higher doses of Ritalin, it was unclear whether the drug would increase extracellular dopamine at doses used therapeutically for children.
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