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Differentiation of rodent behavioral phenotypes and methylphenidate action in sustained and flexible attention tasks
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Differentiation of rodent behavioral phenotypes and methylphenidate action in sustained and flexible attention tasks

Richard Chu, Jed Shumsky and Barry D Waterhouse
Brain research, v 1641(Pt B), pp 306-319
15 Jun 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2015.11.039
PMID: 26688113
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
https://europepmc.org/articles/pmc5127589View
Accepted (AM)Open Access (License Unspecified),  Open

Abstract

Administration, Oral Animals Attention - drug effects Central Nervous System Stimulants - pharmacology Dose-Response Relationship, Drug Executive Function - drug effects Individuality Male Methylphenidate - pharmacology Motor Activity - drug effects Neuropsychological Tests Phenotype Psychotropic Drugs - pharmacology Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Methyphenidate (MPH) is the primary drug treatment of choice for ADHD. It is also frequently used off-label as a cognitive enhancer by otherwise healthy individuals from all age groups and walks of life. Military personnel, students, and health professionals use MPH illicitly to increase attention and improve workplace performance over extended periods of work activity. Despite the frequency of its use, the efficacy of MPH to enhance cognitive function across individuals and in a variety of circumstances is not well characterized. We sought to better understand MPH׳s cognitive enhancing properties in two different rodent models of attention. We found that MPH could enhance performance in a sustained attention task, but that its effects in this test were subject dependent. More specifically, MPH increased attention in low baseline performing rats but had little to no effect on high performing rats. MPH exerted a similar subject specific effect in a test of flexible attention, i.e. the attention set shifting task. In this test MPH increased behavioral flexibility in animals with poor flexibility but impaired performance in more flexible animals. Overall, our results indicate that the effects of MPH are subject-specific and depend on the baseline level of performance. Furthermore, good performance in in the sustained attention task was correlated with good performance in the flexible attention task; i.e. animals with better vigilance exhibited greater behavioral flexibility. The findings are discussed in terms of potential neurobiological substrates, in particular noradrenergic mechanisms, that might underlie subject specific performance and subject specific responses to MPH. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Noradrenergic System.

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8 citations in Web of Science
6 citations in Scopus

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