Department of Psychiatry, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
Neurosci Lett. 2012 Oct 18;528(1):11-5. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2012.08.068. Epub 2012 Sep 7.
Impaired learning performance in scholastic settings is a characteristic of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Our present study compares the effect of a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) agonist, ABT-418, and methylphenidate (MPH) on spatial memory in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs), an animal model of ADHD. Neither chronic administration of ABT-418 nor MPH affected the learning performance during training in the Morris water maze. However, both compounds significantly improved memory. SHRs treated with a combination of the compounds did not perform better than either drug alone. Furthermore, the cortical α4 and β2 nAChR subunits and the hippocampal α4 subunit expression were significantly enhanced by ABT-418 treatments. Collectively, these results suggest that ABT-418 effectively improved spatial memory in an animal model of ADHD, providing a theoretical foundation for the use of a nAChR agonist in ADHD treatment.
在学校环境中学习表现受损是注意缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）的特征。我们目前的研究比较了烟碱型乙酰胆碱受体（nAChR）激动剂 ABT-418 和哌醋甲酯（MPH）对 ADHD 动物模型自发性高血压大鼠（SHRs）空间记忆的影响。ABT-418 和 MPH 的慢性给药均不影响 Morris 水迷宫训练期间的学习表现。然而，这两种化合物都显著改善了记忆。与单独使用任何一种药物相比，联合使用两种药物的 SHR 并未表现出更好的效果。此外，ABT-418 处理显著增强了皮质 α4 和 β2 nAChR 亚基和海马 α4 亚基的表达。综上所述，这些结果表明 ABT-418 可有效改善 ADHD 动物模型的空间记忆，为 nAChR 激动剂在 ADHD 治疗中的应用提供了理论基础。
