Lecture 16: Performing Enhancing Drugs

Question 1

What is used for the treatment of ADHD?

Answer 1

Methylphenidate

Question 2

What is used for narcolepsy?

Answer 2

Modafinil

Question 3

What is the constitute of cigarettes?

Answer 3

Nicotine

Question 4

What does nicotine affect?

Answer 4

The cholinergic system

Question 5

What is nicotine?

Answer 5

ACH agonist

Question 6

What does nicotine stimulate?

Answer 6

ACH receptors which are ionotropic receptors

Question 7

What can the administration of nicotine improve?

Answer 7

Performance

Question 8

Who are more sensitive to the effects of nicotine?

Answer 8

Smokers

Question 9

Is the mean reaction time quicker or slower for smokers or non smokers

Answer 9

Smokers

Question 10

In what terms does nicotine have a cognitive enhancing function?

Answer 10

Visual information processing Reaction time

Question 11

Where was the performance study done?

Answer 11

Radical arm maze

Question 12

What is the radial arm maze?

Answer 12

Set of runways that all radiate out from the central point

Question 13

In term of the radial arm maze, what is found to be an improved cognitive performance?

Answer 13

Making less repeated arm entries

Question 14

What does the administration of nicotine allow animal to do?

Answer 14

Remember where it has been > improved cognitive performance (spatial working memory)

Question 15

In a specific region of the brain there is a confirmation of nicotinic ACH receptors, what are they referred to as?

Answer 15

Alpha-beta composition

Question 16

Where does nicotine have an effect upon?

Answer 16

Hippocampus (spatial memory)

Question 17

What happens when nicotine stimulates receptors within hippocampus and other brain regions?

Answer 17

Bring positive modulatory effects in terms of how the animal performs on anything that depends on its spatial awareness and spatial memory

Question 18

In how many modalities does nicotine have cognitive enhancing abilities?

Answer 18

One

Question 19

What is working memory?

Answer 19

Processing information in short term

Question 20

What Brain region is important in looking at working memory?

Answer 20

Prefrontal cortex

Question 21

Where is prefrontal cortex locates?

Answer 21

Front of the brain in the medial regions where there is a split between two hemispheres

Question 22

What does methylphenidate improve?

Answer 22

Short term working memory Long term delayed working memory

Question 23

What is the role of functional imaging (Fmri)?

Answer 23

Someone performs a cognitive task within mri scanner - detect regions of brain that become most active

Question 24

What are the cognitive enhancing effect prevented by?

Answer 24

Alpha 2 or D1 receptor antagonist

Question 25

Where do you get more information from?

Answer 25

Experimental studies where you get local administration with ritlan into brain regions

Question 26

What does methylphenidate block and how is this demonstrated?

Answer 26

Blocks re-uptake of catecholamine (dopamine and noradrenaline) - in vivo micro dialysis

Question 27

What does methylphenidate increase?

Answer 27

PFC levels of both dopamine and noradrenaline

Question 28

What is in-Vivo micro dialysis?

Answer 28

Discrete sampling from brain regions of levels of neutrotransmitters

Question 29

How does in vivo micro dialysis work ?

Answer 29

Place a dialysis probe into a brain region of interest Perfume dialysis probe with artificial CSF (saline) - this goes through dialysis probe which at its tip have dialysis membrane (free diffusion if many substances including neurotransmitter) Any neutrotransmtter released down into brain down concentration gradient into probe Collect the perfusate and assay it to determine the levels of neurotransmitter of interest

Question 30

In the prefrontal cortex (PFC) what do you have an increase of?

Answer 30

Dopamine and noradrenaline

Question 31

What does the D1 receptor activation reduce ?

Answer 31

Noise through CAMP mediated ion channel effect

Question 32

What does increasing levels of noradrenaline stimulate?

Answer 32

Alpha 2A receptor - enhances signal

Question 33

What does modafinil improve?

Answer 33

Pattern recognition Digit span recall Mental arithmetic Spatial memory Attention Planning

Question 34

What are the effects on cognition Influenced by?

Answer 34

Motivation Level of arousal Task difficulty

Question 35

What is the effect of Modafinil dependent upon?

Answer 35

Baseline performance (reports of decreased performance with high base line)

Question 36

Action of modafinil

Answer 36

Involvement of catecholaminergic systems

Question 37

What was suggested that modafinil inhibits?

Answer 37

Dopamine transporter

Question 38

What are the potential substrates for the action of modafinil?

Answer 38

Histamine Orexin ACH 5-HT Glutamate Dopamine GABA

Question 39

What does modafinil influence

Answer 39

LTP which is a key phenomen in memory processing

Question 40

Where does modafinil have strength on?

Answer 40

Synapses

Question 41

What is modafinil less likely to induce ?

Answer 41

Reported Anxiogenic effects

Question 42

What lower incidence do you have with modafinil ?

Answer 42

Cardiovascular system effects

Question 43

What can you get with u-shaped effect?

Answer 43

Memory impairment

Question 44

What are the side effects of modafinil?

Answer 44

Effect on sleep and wakefulness - affects long term potentiation May unpair working memory in developing brain at clinically relevant doses Abuse potential much lower than psychostimulants Lack of reported anxiogenic effects Lower incidence of cardiovascular system effects

Question 45

What are the side effects of methylphenidate?

Answer 45

Abuse potential Alteration of circadian rhythms Anxiogenic Memory impairment Increased liability for OCD, additive behaviours, loss of cognitive flexibility