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Article: PET scans show depressed dopamine activity in ADHD.(Adult Psychiatry)
- Article from:
- Clinical Psychiatry News
- Article date:
- October 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 International Medical News Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder showed depressed dopamine activity in the caudate area of the brain on positron emission tomography, reported Dr. Nora D. Volkow of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bethesda, Md., and her associates.
The depressed dopamine activity correlated with symptom severity and with patient response to methylphenidate. These findings suggest that people with ADHD have lower than normal release of dopamine and that stimulant medications exert their therapeutic effects by enhancing extracellular dopamine levels, the researchers said.
In a separate study, other ADHD researchers found that a variant in the ...