Developing New Treatments for ADHD

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center may have found a new treatment for ADHD, which causes impulsive, sometimes disruptive, activity and short attention spans. The new drug, now being tested in humans, could be safer than potentially addictive psychostimulants such as Ritalin. Ritalin is currently the most widely prescribed drug for ADHD.

Dr. Marc Caron, Duke University professor of cell biology and investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, studied a model for ADHD in which mice were given a glutamate-containing compound.The drug was just as successful as Ritalin in alleviating ADHD symptoms.

Caron says researchers tried glutamate because it appears to be related to locomotion and hyperactivity.

"Instead of having to treat patients with psychostimulants that have potential liability for addictive behavior, you can use other compounds that are not liable for addictive properties."

Although children are given low doses of Ritalin to prevent addiction, Caron says long-term treatment can pose uncertain health risks. He says he hopes the safer glutamate drug will be successful in clinical trials so it can be prescribed in the near future.

I'm Cabell Smith for MedMinute

Caron says the study is important because he and his team were able to elucidate a relationship between the glutamate pathway and physical activity.

Cut 2 essentially :15 . .. ( Preview this in a WAV file in 16-bit mono. )

"I'm not sure that there's a connection between ADHD and glutamate. I mean, what we're showing is that there's a connection between activity “ control of locomotor activity “ and glutamate, essentially."