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potential cause of age differences in stimulant response identified

Ellen Unterwald, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology and Center for Substance Abuse Research

Ellen Unterwald, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology and Center for Substance Abuse Research

 

In young children, psychostimulants relieve symptoms of Attention Deficit
Disorder, yet in adolescents and adults, those same medications can cause
euphoria and are often abused.


What is behind these differing drug responses?

 

Temple University scientists have identified a potential molecular mechanism
in animal models, the neurotrophin system comprising brain-derived
neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its receptor TrkB, as the cause of age
differences in stimulant response. Their findings appear in the January 30
issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

 

"Our findings suggest that the rapidly developing young brain is able to
adapt and protect itself against the rewarding effects of stimulants due to
the input of the TrkB system," said Ellen Unterwald, PhD, lead
investigator and Professor of Pharmacology at Temple University's School of
Medicine and Center for Substance Abuse Research.

 

Most preclinical studies have found that susceptibility to the addictive
properties of stimulants is age-dependent. This is the first study to link
the TrkB neurotrophin system to those age-specific responses.

 

The hope is that BDNF/TrkB might someday be used as a target for the
development of new treatments for childhood neuropsychiatric disorders or
addiction.

 

Unterwald and her research team specialize in the effects of drug use, abuse
and withdrawal and are currently investigating neurobiological mechanisms
involved in drug addiction.

 

Other authors on this study are Michelle Niculescu, Shane A. Perrine,
Jonathan S. Miller, of the Department of Pharmacology and Center for
Substance Abuse Research, Temple University School of Medicine and Michelle
E. Ehrlich of the Farber Institute for Neurosciences and Department of
Neurology, Thomas Jefferson University College of Medicine,

 

The author wishes to acknowledge the input of her collaborator on this
project, Michelle Ehrlich, MD, currently at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.

 

This work was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of
Health.

 

***

 

By Eryn Jelesiewicz

eryn.jelesiewicz@temple.edu

February 14, 2008